


Coded in My Heart

by JenoTheSamoyed



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Adoption, Alternate Universe - High School, Angst with a Happy Ending, Awkward Mark Lee (NCT), Awkward Park Jisung (NCT), Baby Boy Lee Jeno, Boys Kissing, Brief panic attacks, Child Neglect, Coming Out, Coming of Age, Confident Lee Donghyuck | Haechan, Enemies to Lovers, Falling In Love, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Heartbreak, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Insults, Jeno and Haechan are friendship goals, Johnny is Hyuck's dad, M/M, Making Out, Mark and Jeno are brothers, Mean teachers, Minor Violence, Past Character Death, Plot Twists, Protective Parents, Secret Admirer, Secrets, Sexual Humor, Sexual Tension, Shy Lee Jeno, Sus - Freeform, Swearing, Teacher Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung, Texting, Tutoring, bongsik nal seol, brief bullying, haechan has a sexy brain, jaemin best boy, jaeyong are jeno's dads, jeno jisung and hyuck are besties, leather jackets and smoky eyeshadow are his thing, renjun can be a bit mean, soft nohyuck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-21
Packaged: 2021-03-22 14:49:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 36,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30040356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JenoTheSamoyed/pseuds/JenoTheSamoyed
Summary: "You know why you're here."Donghyuck is lazy and just wants to make it out of school as quickly as possible. But then he starts to receive strange, heartfelt notes in his locker."You have a secret admirer?"And, to top it all off, he is forced to attend tutoring sessions with a mysterious new student."What the fuck?"｡｡oOo｡｡New chapters every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday!Cross-posted on Wattpad - @Lifeisjustmeh
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Lee Donghyuck | Haechan, Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Lee Taeyong, Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin
Comments: 14
Kudos: 25





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Please check the tags for warnings and click out if anything makes you uncomfortable.  
> I had lots of fun writing this so I hope you enjoy it :D  
> 

Donghyuck curses and jams his key back into the lock. Why won't it open? This seems to happen way too often, but he would only argue that it's not his fault. His pride easily wins over any other logic. Finally, his locker gives way and he swings the door open. He glances around him to check that no one was watching, realising that it was just another case of his impatience, before transferring his oversized textbooks and laptop into his bag.

A piece of paper flutters down onto the floor and he huffs, kicking it out of the way with his heavy boot then slamming his locker shut again. It's probably some revision notes he couldn't be bothered to glue into a book. Oh wait, it can't be that - Donghyuck never revises. The small numbers in the corner of the TV in the corridor tell him that it is somehow nearly four o'clock. He does not have time for this. He should be playing video games at Jeno's house by now.

As if on cue, his phone pings in his pocket and he pulls it out, the plethora of rings on his fingers scraping across the black case as he jostles it to get it comfortable whilst also trying to sling his rucksack over his shoulder.

_Duckie where r youuuu? I miss you :(_

Reading the message from Jeno, his lifelong best friend, puts a smile on his face. Another student walks past and gives him a strange look, probably wondering what has happened to The Lazy and Intimidating Donghyuck, who always wears leather jackets matched with smokey eyeshadow. Jeno is the only person allowed to call him Duckie, along with various other tender nicknames, and Donghyuck thinks he would wither away if anyone else overheard.

He traipses down the corridor and the same piece of paper crumples under his boot, eliciting a weighted sigh from him. Upon further inspection, he can tell that it's some type of note.

He unfolds the paper and raises an eyebrow. The letters are written in mostly perfect proportion, with the thickness of the pen consistent and the shapes all aligned in handwriting so neat that Donghyuck starts to reconsider his own scribbly font.

_my hEart w3nt crazy as sOon as i sAw You, d0nghyuck. you'rE Beautiful_

Donghyuck can proudly boast of having been the subject of many crushes in the past. But all of his admirers had come up to him on wobbly legs and stuttered their way through their confession whilst their friends snickered in the distance. No one has ever slotted a note into his locker before.

His heart races with excitement. He brings the paper closer to his face and scans over the handwriting. It is not one he recognises, so it is unlikely to be a classmate. He has a _secret_ admirer. 'What kind of fanfic is this?' he thinks.

The mystery is interrupted by his phone pinging again. He scolds himself for letting something else get in the way of replying to his beloved Jeno.

_Duckie? I'm worried. If ur not at my front door within the next ten minutes I'll phone u >:_

Donghyuck laughs. Jeno is possibly the least intimidating person he has ever met. He slips the note into the side pocket on his bag, then finally replies to the messages.

_I'm just leaving school now. Had a detention, but I managed to talk my way out of it and escape early ;)) I'll be there soon. Promise ^^_

Jeno sends back a series of smiley emojis and Donghyuck races down the last corridor, not forgetting to slow down to an innocent walk when he passes the headteacher's office. Mr Suh may be his father, but he'd still rather not run into him now. Or ever. Not when he is so close to avoiding homework by instead choosing to laze around at Jeno's house.

Donghyuck is only just able to not exceed the ten minute warning from Jeno. He arrives outside his house, Bongsik slinking over to rub her fur against his leg, always seeking attention. He swears at her in the exact moment when Jeno barrels out of his red front door.

"Don't be mean to my baby!" He pouts at Donghyuck before reaching down to pick the cat up and nuzzle his nose into her fur. She thrashes around and mewls, knocking his glasses askew, until she is allowed on the ground once more.

"I wasn't being mean." Donghyuck defends himself. Jeno fixes his glasses and raises an eyebrow. "She almost tripped me up."

"Stop exaggerating, Hyuck." Jeno replies. Donghyuck fiddles with the skull on his necklace then asks if they can head inside, as the sun is already starting to set and is letting the evening chill take its place. "Taeyong let me open a bag of popcorn." He smiles with pride when he tips the contents into a pink plastic bowl and leads the way into his bedroom.

Donghyuck flops straight down onto his bed. The covers are printed with multicoloured stars and planets, sheets that he is sure Jeno has had since they were still toddlers and they have definitely travelled between all his foster homes, and glow in the dark stars are stuck all over his ceiling. He had always wanted those. Donghyuck smiles at the memory of Jeno charging up to him, rambling about how his new adoptive parents had bought him a pack.

A collage of polaroid photos of the two of them with Jisung, their friend from lower down in the school who they doted upon as soon as they set their eyes on him, surrounds his mirror along with a string of softly glowing fairy lights. Overall, the place is much tidier and more aesthetically pleasing than the dump of Donghyuck's room.

But then Jeno's entire family is more pleasing.

Jeno takes a seat at his desk and pulls out a blue exercise book from his drawer. Maths. Donghyuck groans as soon as he sets his eyes on it.

"I did not trek all the way here to wait for you to finish your maths homework." He complains and sits up to shove a huge handful of popcorn into his mouth.

"Help me, then." Jeno widens his eyes to plead his friend to let him use his brains for a bit.

See, Donghyuck is smart. Incredibly smart. As in, he barely takes notes in lessons and still passes all of his exams. The teachers like to accuse him of cheating, but the reality is just that he is lazy and once he discovered that note-taking is just extra work that he doesn't need to do, he has been using that to his full advantage. Some days, he doesn't even bother to bring his pencil case in.

The only person he would choose to do work for is Lee Jeno. Yet another case of him being uncharacteristically soft and kind for another human being.

Donghyuck smiles and makes his way over to Jeno, wrapping him in a back hug as he leans to see the worksheet.

"Quadratic graphs?" He says and Jeno grimaces. "I can help you with that. They're not too bad."

"What do you mean, not too bad? They're awful!" Jeno slams his pencil down on the desk and takes his glasses off as though seeing the sheet through a blur would remove him from the reality. "I don't even have any graph paper." He mutters.

"Why not? Mr Dong is nice enough to usually give out paper if you don't have it at home." Donghyuck furrows his eyebrows and mentally checks the maths problems as he speaks. He prides himself at being able to multitask so well. Jeno mumbles something he doesn't quite catch. "Sorry?"

"I said that Mr Dong did give them out, but he didn't hear me ask for some." Jeno sinks down in his chair and blushes.

Donghyuck wraps his arms tighter around him and pecks the top of his head. Jeno squirms but isn't set free until he stills.

Jeno may be comfortable around Donghyuck and Jisung, but his voice and confidence shrink away as soon they make it into public. At first, Donghyuck found it rather endearing to see him stutter and fiddle with his hoodie strings or freeze whenever the teacher would pick on him, but now he realises how much Jeno struggles with his anxiety, and as a result his self-esteem. He decides not to press and simply tugs his laptop out of his rucksack and finds a website which allows you to download graph paper for free.

The note from his locker catches his eye and he contemplates telling Jeno, but then the download is complete and he'd rather help his friend who still has his head buried in his hands. They head to the printer in the office to retrieve it, Donghyuck bowing and smiling at one of Jeno's dads.

Jeno's parents are Taeyong and Jaehyun. Donghyuck personally finds them a little intimidating. Both of them have sharp jawlines just like Jeno's, even though they are not biologically related, and they're tall. But he knows that they treat Jeno well. Better than his biological parents and multiples sets of foster parents all combined, in fact. The last four months seem to have been the happiest of Jeno's life, so Donghyuck is grateful to the couple for making him smile.

"Alright. Let's have a look." Donghyuck takes a pencil out of Jeno's stationary pot and puts it straight to paper to draw the set of axes required for the first question.

He talks through it, and it is like his words are working magic in Jeno's brain. It's always like this. If Jeno doesn't understand a topic in class, he always prefers to duck out of raising his hand to ask the teacher and just goes to Donghyuck instead. Sometimes he feels a little bad and worries that he is irritating his friend, who is now frowning and twisting the rings on his fingers with concentration. But he always insists that he enjoys helping Jeno.

"Do you understand?" Donghyuck stands up straight and points at the completed graph and list of manipulated equations in the margin. Jeno stares at the page, then up at the other with sparkling eyes. They crinkle up into his adorable smile.

"Yes. Thank you, Duckie." He says and Donghyuck nearly squeals. He allows a tiny squeak to leave his lips, before recollecting himself and patting Jeno's shoulder.

Then Donghyuck shakes off his leather jacket before perching back on Jeno's bed, with his laptop this time.

"What are you working on now? You said you didn't come here to work." Jeno shuffles around to sit next to him and peers at the screen.

"I'm coding a website which has various games on it. Like chess and all that boring stuff." Donghyuck describes nonchalantly. Jeno screws up his nose and chews on some popcorn.

"Why are you doing it if you find it boring?" He asks. The younger doesn't respond for a bit whilst he rapidly scans over his lines of code.

"Mr Nakomoto set it as an extension project." He says finally.

The only subject Donghyuck actually puts effort into is computer science. It tends to surprise people when they find out that he is into computers and coding and all that techy stuff. But it soon impresses them when they learn of the sorts of programmes and apps he has constructed. And of the sites he has hacked. He would only turn around and say that he has to pass his time somehow.

"Oh, did you hear the rumours?" Donghyuck suddenly snaps his head up and looks at Jeno with excitement. Jeno's eyes rove over his expression, nervous.

"What rumours?" He swallows as he speaks.

Judging by how Donghyuck is clearly dying to spill the tea, he is sure that it's not anything bad. Donghyuck is nice to him. But Jeno also isn't particularly in the middle of the school's social circle. He is always the last to find out about the latest trending news of the corridors, and that is only ever when Donghyuck or Jisung tell him.

"They're not about you, don't worry." Jeno visibly relaxes at this. "People are saying that Mr Nakamoto and Mr Dong are a couple." Donghyuck laughs after sharing the rumour and Jeno rolls his eyes.

"And why do people care? They're our teachers. Isn't it weird to stick your nose into their business?" Jeno replies, still baffled by the hundreds of lines of code on his friend's computer.

"I mean, I asked my dad about it and he only told me off. So yeah, it probably is weird. But students will spread rumours about anything." Donghyuck says.

Jeno shivers at the memory of some of the terrible, twisted, fabricated stories that have been batted around in the past.

"I thought you wanted to play video games with me." Jeno changes the subject, crosses his arms and then pads over to the beanbag in the corner of the room to sort out the controllers.

"I do. But I suddenly realised I coded something wrong. It won't take a moment to fix." Donghyuck explains.

Jeno has the patience to wait for that moment, and his friend is soon perched on the beanbag next to him and swearing at the screen when Jeno lands a punch straight to his character's face. It was Donghyuck's choice of game and he is now losing to someone who would never even dream of _really_ punching anyone.

"Stupid game." He mutters and Jeno lets out a small laugh.

"You're just jealous that I beat you." Jeno teases and then receives a popcorn kernel in his face. It bounces off his glasses and lands on the carpet.

They both burst into laughter, which is so happy and uncontrollable that their stomachs start to hurt and their jaws ache from smiling. Donghyuck wishes he could have snapped a photo of how comedically confused Jeno's face was when the popcorn hit him. Instead, he pokes his cheek and ruffles his hair.

"Don't." Jeno manages to gasp and he crawls over to the mirror, still searching for air between his laughter attacks, and fixes his hair. Not that he'd styled it in the first place. He rolls his eyes when Donghyuck points that out.

"You know, I like the confident side of you, Nono." Donghyuck grins when Jeno lands back at his side with a forced exhale. He pushes his glasses up his nose and looks away, instead brushing crumbs off his baby blue hoodie.

"What do you mean?" Jeno mumbles his question and busies himself with loading up a different game.

"I mean that you're an awesome friend and person so no one is thinking badly of you at school. You should open up a bit more. Have a bit more belief in yourself." Donghyuck's voice is soft and encouraging in a way which makes Jeno hug his waist and press his cheek into his shoulder.

Donghyuck immediately returns the embrace. Affection like this only usually occurs when it's just the two of them, away from the judging eyes Jeno's imagination likes to conjure up.

"I'm trying, Hyuckie." Jeno sighs.

"I know. Thank you. I want you to shine with your full potential." Donghyuck whispers and plays with a tuft of Jeno's silky, black hair.

Then their game starts its intro music and captures their attention, bringing them back to squabbling and launching popcorn at each other.


	2. Chapter 2

Sitting at the back of the room certainly has both its advantages and its drawbacks. For Donghyuck, the fact that he can easily get away with daydreaming or doodling for an entire lesson makes squinting at the whiteboard worth it.

Mr Kim in particular likes to cram as much information onto each of his presentation slides. Donghyuck is sure that he does it out of spite. They have a mutual hatred towards each other. The teacher dislikes his attitude and the student dislikes the subject. Science is complex, with a lot of content that Donghyuck knows is just simplified for their level anyway. He's read enough books about stars and bacteria and the elements to know that. It frustrates him. As a result, Mr Kim's subject flew to the very top of the list of subjects he doesn't care about.

Today, on this dreary morning, Mr Kim is droning on about electrons and shells and how to use the periodic table to work out the configurations. Donghyuck rolls his pencil forwards and backwards on his desk, then etches a few lines into it with his compass and finishes his boredom off by colouring in his rubber with a green highlighter. He knows the proper version of the simplified story Mr Kim is unravelling at the front of the room.

Luckily, he's in the same class as Jeno but he sits on the other side of the room, too far away to whisper or pass notes, not that he thinks Jeno would go along with that anyway. He's more studious than that.

Donghyuck watches Mr Kim hand out a worksheet. His tie is perfect around his neck and his white shirt is pristine, contrasting with the deep black of his hair that has been slicked up to reveal the smooth of his forehead. Thin, wiry glasses perch on his nose but unlike Jeno's, he can tell they are only a fashion statement.

Mr Kim slams a sheet down in front of him. Donghyuck pushes it away immediately. The teacher sighs.

"Donghyuck, you _will_ be doing your work today, you hear me?" Mr Kim says sternly. Donghyuck makes a show of yawning and several of his classmates snicker.

"Nope. It's boring." He leans back in his chair. He waits for Mr Kim to shout about how countless students have hit their heads doing that in the classic teacher story, but it never comes. He probably doesn't care if he hurts himself or not.

"Perhaps some tutoring could help to make you a little more enthusiastic. Stay after class." The teacher barks before moving on to continue handing out his sheets.

Donghyuck catches Jeno's eye. Jeno is frowning and nibbling on his lips with concern for his friend, who mouths something unintelligible and mimes a mouth jabbering with his hand. A faint smile creeps across Jeno's face.

"Jeno! Focus, please." Mr Kim stares at him as he takes his seat at his desk. Donghyuck watches the teacher soften his features straight after, almost guiltily, but he still shouted at his friend nonetheless.

"Sorry, sir." Jeno squeaks, blushing and leaning over the worksheet and Donghyuck shakes his head slightly.

He needs to have a few words with the science teacher for picking on Jeno like that. For the meantime, he picks at the nail varnish on his fingers. It is a deep purple, dark and with a tint of red when it catches the light. He enjoys painting his nails. Scratching it off passes the time at school. And lets him stay inside on rainy days when he is given yet another detention for it.

He's asked his father countless times to get the teachers to back off. But all he ever gets in return is another rant about how he has to treat all the students equally and all that gibberish. It's tiresome. Despite being the class clown and therefore easily gaining popularity and what seems like a secret admirer, he thinks that the only person who is actually on his side is Jeno. And Jisung, on a good day.

His ears successfully block out Mr Kim's voice for the rest of the lesson. In the end he does do the worksheet, but only once the person next to him has completed the first few questions. He copies down the answers. 

"I'll wait outside the canteen for you." Jeno mumbles and flinches when a girl squeals as she leaves the room with her friends, their handbags stuffed with books and their perfume choking up his throat.

"Thanks. Wish me luck." Donghyuck quips back. Someone nearby whispers a comment about how they don't see why Donghyuck bothers to spend time with Jeno, and the older digs his fingernails into the straps of his rucksack. "Don't listen to them, alright? I'll sort them out. Now go and find Jisung. See you in a bit."

He sends Jeno off with an encouraging smile, not forgetting to glower at who made the comment. Donghyuck doesn't know his name and doesn't wish to learn it, either. If you mess with Jeno, you have to face Donghyuck. And your chances of survival will diminish in a flash.

"Over here." Mr Kim flicks his eyes up to meet the student's. Donghyuck follows the order and weaves his way between the tables to the teacher's desk. He squares his shoulders and grits his jaw.

"What?" He asks, giving off an air of utter boredom.

"You know why you're here." Mr Kim exhales sharply through his nose.

"No, I don't." Donghyuck replies. He is purposefully trying to make the teacher's job as hard as possible. He knows he is succeeding with exactly that when the teacher tightens his grip on his pen.

"You are constantly slacking off during my lessons. Other teachers have noticed the same." Mr Kim is only stating facts that Donghyuck is too proud to deny.

"So you've been talking about me, then?" He prods at the man's temper with a glint of mischief in his eyes.

"Quiet." Mr Kim demands and Donghyuck finds himself obeying. "Your grades are dropping, so I've compiled a list of books you can read to help you study. They're all available in the school library." The teacher continues, then is interrupted when his phone pings. He spends a second reading it before turning it off.

It's so unfair how staff are allowed their phones yet students aren't.

"I've also arranged for you to be tutored by another student after school."

｡｡oOo｡｡

"You survived!" Jeno blesses Donghyuck with a shining smile when he approaches his two friends in the corridor.

"Or perhaps he didn't and has just arrived in hell." Jisung suggests with a shrug of his shoulders. Donghyuck treads on his toe. It's more of a tap, really, but Jisung shouts and glares at him then makes a show of limping into the canteen after them.

"Are you okay?" Jeno frantically tries to ensure that his younger friend is not hurt, which forces Jisung to stop his act and insist that he is only joking.

They sit at the table in the far corner of the room, as always, and take out their packed lunches, as always, because the school dinners are unbearably disgusting. Jeno gasps when he unwraps the tinfoil of his sandwich and finds a sticky note written out for him to read. Since moving into his home four months ago, his new parents have been spoiling him with little messages in his lunchbox. It briefly reminds Donghyuck of the note from his locker, but the thought leaves his mind again when Jisung asks Jeno to read it out with a sort of sad smile on his face.

"It says that Mark made it today!" Jeno giggles and takes out the cereal bar and the apple and the mini box of raisins. He loves the raisins.

"Your brother is so nice." Donghyuck grumbles and stares at his own ham sandwich which he had to make himself just half an hour before it was time to leave for school.

"Yeah. I bet you think he's cute, too." Jisung pipes up with his mouth full of crisps. Donghyuck raises an eyebrow, as if silently scolding him.

"I do not!" He fires back. "But you know who's not so nice?" Donghyuck continues as he grimaces at his sandwich. The other two look at him with expectation. "That damn science teacher."

"Mr Kim isn't so bad." Jeno says, but his voice is hesitant and Donghyuck tuts.

"Yes he is!" He insists.

"What did he want to speak to you about?" Jisung asks. His nose twitches with curiosity.

"He's arranged for me to be tutored in science. By another student! And he wouldn't tell me who it is." Donghyuck grumbles as he kicks his chair leg to try to dispel some of his anger. "I don't need tutoring, for fuck's sake."

"Duckie?" Jeno's small voice cuts his venting short and grabs his attention; he is very attuned to the sound of it. He then follows his eyes until they land on a group of older students. Donghyuck audibly groans.

"What do you want, Lucas?" Donghyuck leans his elbow onto the table and keeps his gaze unwavering.

This morning, he was feeling extra risky and tried out some eyeliner, which is what robbed him of enough time to put together his lunch. Now, he hopes that the added definition around his eyes makes him look more intimidating.

"Duckie? Duckie?!" Lucas and his gang howl with laughter. Jisung cowers away with fear and Jeno's eyes soon become shinier and he keeps his head down. "It seems like you're not so cool after all, _Duckie_." They crack the terrible joke before moving on.

But their voices were loud enough for mutterings to ripple through the canteen. Instead of feeling the embarrassment he predicted, Donghyuck clenches his fists so tightly that he feels like he is about to break his fingers. He feels the urge to punch Lucas in the face. Either way, he's breaking his fingers.

But if he starts a fight, he'd definitely get expelled, his father would disown him and who'd look after Jeno? Jisung is two years below them so doesn't share any classes and, with as much respect as possible to the boy, Donghyuck doesn't think he is smart enough to skip two years.

Donghyuck simply shakes his head and scoots to sit closer to Jeno. Jeno's shoulders are shaking and when he leans in to lift his chin up gently, he hears tiny gasps from how he desperately tries to draw in some air. Jisung silently watches the scene. His own aversion and hesitancy towards physical affection is a pitiful result of years of not receiving it as a child.

"Nono?" Donghyuck says his name but he squeezes his eyes shut and refuses to respond. "Jeno. It's okay, they're gone."

"Would you like to leave?" Jisung tries. Jeno still doesn't speak. He probably can't speak because he is furiously rubbing the tears away from his eyes and is still breathing faster than what is considered healthy.

Donghyuck rummages around in his rucksack and pulls out a packet of tissues, passing one to Jeno who only manages a vague smile in response. At least it is something. Although it doesn't reach his pretty orbs. Jeno shakily wipes his eyes. Donghyuck takes the opportunity to embrace his friend in a tight, safe hug. Jeno stiffens, caught off-guard and eyes flicking around the room, but relaxes when Donghyuck continues to utter reassurances to him. The younger spots a group of students gawping at them and sends their nosy stares away with a scowl, before softening his features to look at Jeno.

"H-hug." Jeno stutters and Donghyuck leans in again to deliver.

Feeling Donghyuck's arms around him helps Jeno to know that he is not in danger, despite the mean words from others, because his friend is capable of fending off any enemies. Whether they be mental or real, Donghyuck has both the experience and the social skills to steer them away.

"It's okay, Jen." Donghyuck repeats and rubs his hand up and down Jeno's back. He hears the older sniffle.

A few more minutes pass. Lucas and his muscly frame also pass by, this time without sparing a smirk in their direction, but Donghyuck still holds Jeno tighter when they sense his presence. He nods at Jisung to pack away the rest of their lunch.

Together they get Jeno standing on shaky legs and they relocate to the library for a hopefully more peaceful lunchtime.

Donghyuck also thinks that maybe he can start to find some of the books on the reading list Mr Kim gave him. The last thing he wants is for everything to escalate and for his father to catch on.


	3. Chapter 3

Jeno visibly relaxes when they make it to the library. They take a table which is concealed by a few bookshelves, providing the safety they all need to put their minds to rest. The lighting is a bit dimmer there but it doesn't really make a difference. Donghyuck sits right next to Jeno, so close that their hips are touching, and keeps running his hand up and down his back. The older hiccups at varied intervals and now uses the tissue to wipe his runny nose.

"Why don't you finish your lunch?" Donghyuck prompts for Jeno to touch his food. "Mark made it specially for you."

He has never properly met Jeno's older brother. Jeno had only met him around six months ago himself, but the two seem incredibly close, easily forming a brotherly bond that Donghyuck can only dream of having. Because of this, he knows that Mark put a lot of effort and care into cutting the crusts off the sandwiches and remembering the box of raisins.

Jeno weakly smiles and fumbles to open up the box. A raisin lands on the table and it's Jisung who picks it back up for him.

"Thanks." Jeno mumbles. Jisung nods with encouragement.

Meanwhile, Donghyuck decides to keep talking to distract Jeno from his mind. He yanks the science reading list out of his rucksack and skims over it, already able to mentally tick off several titles.

"This is the list Mr Kim gave me." He presses his palm over the page to smooth out the crinkles. Nothing can ever make it in and out of his bag safely. Any book gets its corners folded and dog-eared, and any letter is ripped before it can even reach his father.

Donghyuck still finds it stupid that he has to show all the letters and permission slips to his dad. He literally runs the school. There's nothing he doesn't know. Well, almost nothing.

Jeno and Jisung flick their eyes down the list of books. And it's long. An entire page of typed book titles, perfectly arranged in alphabetical order and separated into two columns to fill the paper. Donghyuck takes his pencil and crosses through the ones he has already read. He now realises that it's not as many as he had originally thought: a mere nine out of what must be at least fifty. Jisung studies his disappointment.

"Did Mr Kim say that you have to read all of them?" He asks. Donghyuck thinks back to their conversation. To be honest, he's already blocked most of it out of his head.

"Nope." He recalls eventually. "I'll pick maybe three. Four, if he's lucky."

"But your dad... Mr Suh said that you should read more often, didn't he?" Jeno adds. He is still unsure as to how he should best address his friend's father. His name is Johnny, yet him being a teacher - the headmaster, in fact - makes it strange. Another reason why they tend to hang out at Jeno's house.

"Yeah, well, when do I ever listen to him?" Donghyuck makes a point. He then goes back to reading the countless book titles.

His eyes nearly burn a hole through the paper he glares at it so hard. Jeno silently chews on his raisins whilst Jisung folds his crisp packet into a little triangle that he then flicks across the table to pass the time. The three of them are comfortable enough for the silences not to be awkward.

Donghyuck suddenly jabs the list with his finger.

"This one looks interesting!" He exclaims. The other two lean in with curiosity, because it must be really interesting for Donghyuck to find it so.

"Which one?" Jeno asks. The light reflects off his glasses and highlights the confusion in his eyes.

"This one. _'The Elegant Universe'_. Maybe I can learn something about physics, for once. The school syllabus is crap." Donghyuck says.

He jumps up, startling Jeno, and walks away to find the right shelf.

"You wouldn't think he hates science lessons." Jisung grumbles whilst he watches Donghyuck's dyed light brown tufts of hair disappear and reappear above a bookshelf a few metres away. Jeno hums with agreement.

Jeno had been present when Donghyuck dyed his hair. Donghyuck had done it at his house, of course, with the help of Taeyong, but he had decided not to join in. Admiring how the colour compliments his friend's skin and eyes, he now regrets not dying his own. But rocking up to school with a new hair colour would only attract too much unwanted attention.

Donghyuck goes to the front desk to borrow the book, then returns to their table. He spends a minute or two reading the blurb.

"It looks very complicated." Jeno observes, baffled by the mention of string theory and just physics in general. Donghyuck shrugs.

"I'm sure it'll be okay. I can just read every other page. Get through it quicker." He says.

He then pulls a small, round mirror out of his bag along with a delicate makeup brush and dabs around his eyes a little to correct his eyeshadow. The mirror clips shut and all their attention returns to the book.

"But that isn't in the specification, is it?" Jisung tilts his head and frowns. "Why is Mr Kim making you read it?"

"He said it's a list to help with general science studies. He was banging on about how the more knowledge I have the better." Donghyuck replies. The other two exchange a tired look.

Donghyuck flicks through the pages. The movement produces a stream of cold air which dissolves over his face, along with the slightly musty smell of a well-read book. When he reaches around the midway point, page 203 to be precise, a slip of paper slides out and lands on the table in front of him. He grunts with confusion.

When he turns it over, he finds a message in exactly the same style as the one from his locker.

He folds it in half again immediately. Disbelief flies through his mind. The first time was a surprise and maybe a little exciting, but now it is just weird, in his humble opinion.

"What's that?" Jisung asks and points to the piece of paper. Donghyuck only rolls his eyes.

"It's a note from my secret admirer." He says, clearly unimpressed, judging by his flat tone.

"You have a secret admirer?" Jeno's eyes shoot open wide and he even puts down his raisins to concentrate on the conversation.

Donghyuck now properly contemplates the meaning of this. A secret admirer. Someone likes him. Loves him, even. That's a big deal. And a big boost for his ego, too.

"Yeah." A smug smile starts to grow across his face.

"Since when?" Jeno prods for more information. If his best friend is going to start dating, he wants all the details.

"Since yesterday. Look." Donghyuck takes the first note out of his bag and places it where the other two can read it. "This was in my locker."

There is a silence whilst they take it in before Jisung then demands to read the second one, a worried frown ruining the usual gentleness of his features.

Donghyucks reads it for the first time along with them.

_tHere Must BE someThing wrong w1th my eyes, i can't taKe THEm off you_

"That's creepy." Jeno whispers, shuddering and going back to his food again.

"I don't think it is. It's a little annoying, though. But also exciting, I guess? I wonder who it could be?" Donghyuck peers around the room, leaning to see past a bookshelf as though more students would magically appear once he starts looking. They're the only ones in the library.

"You don't really talk to anyone else, do you?" Jisung points out. Donghyuck thinks back through all the interactions he's had over the past week or so.

Jisung is correct. He's spent every break and lunch with Jisung and Jeno, then had a few conversations with other people. Well, 'arguments' seems like a more fitting word. Once again, if you mess with Jeno, Donghyuck will come for you. He considers himself popular. Other people consider him popular, too. Not because he is the life of the party or the king of the football field, but because everyone wishes they had his brain. His sexy brain. He is famous for it.

The three of them look back at the notes on the table in front of them. Donghyuck stares blankly, trying to conjure up some names for the possible people behind it. But he is sure that most of the ones he thinks of aren't even real people. And if they are, they're certainly not students.

And it has to be a student.

Jisung seems confused. His eyes dart between the two slips of paper. The edges are jagged and unevenly torn, but they correspond to each other showing that they came from the same piece of paper. His mind can't figure them out. There is something strange, unnerving, about them and he keeps comparing the two messages like it is a particularly taxing game of spot the difference. Yet the handwriting and styles are identical. The only difference is the wording.

Jeno, however, seems to be getting much closer to the bottom of it. He wipes his glasses with his sleeve and replaces them on his nose, still squinting a little to try to fumble through it.

Some of the letters are different. Written in capitals, a way which contrasts all of the others. Some aren't even letters, but numbers.

"Duckie?" He speaks, voice raspy. The nickname now leaves a sour aftertaste on his tongue and he pulls his sleeves over his hands - a habit which he has become more and more attached to over time.

"Yes, Jen?" Donghyuck turns to face his older friend. His face turns to pity when he senses his discomfort and embarrassment.

"There's no one else around. Don't worry." Jisung picks up on it as well, quickly talking to dispel it and reassure him that there is nothing wrong with calling a friend by a cute nickname.

Jeno swallows and brings his hands to rest on the surface of the table before continuing.

"I think that they might be trying to convey a message." He states. Donghyuck scoffs.

"Of course they are. They've left me notes." Donghyuck throws his hands up to emphasise that fact.

"No, you're not understanding." Jeno shakes his head and raises his voice a bit. He tends to speak quietly. Others point that out a lot, but to him his voice sounds loud all the time. He's afraid of accidentally shouting.

"Not understanding what?" Jisung stands up to examine the notes from directly above.

"There are some letters written differently." Jeno pokes at a couple of examples.

Donghyuck now sees where he's coming from. That idea hadn't crossed his mind. He just thought that it was some sort of aesthetic that his admirer was going for. To be a bit different, memorable and edgy.

"Are you suggesting that it spells out something?" Jisung scrunches up his nose and sits back down, dropping the crisp packet triangle into his bag. Jeno nods with enthusiasm.

"Yes!" He grins, goofy and proud of himself, and Donghyuck wants to hug him and protect him forever.

"But what?" Donghyuck says. He leans on his hand to stare at Jeno, who is gazing back at him through his glasses, the cogs whirring in his mind.

Eventually, he slumps back in his chair and shrugs.

"I don't know." Jeno mutters.

"I thought you were going to enlighten me!" Donghyuck complains. The force in his voice makes Jeno jump and a tiny squeak leaves his throat.

Both of the notes are cleared away into Donghyuck's bag when the librarian comes around to tell them to budge, because afternoon lessons are about to start. Not that Donghyuck would mind receiving a detention; he hears the pattering of the rain against the windows of his history classroom. Jeno certainly wouldn't want a detention and he would feel guilty until his grave if Jisung got his first because of him.

His history book goes untouched throughout the entire lesson. All he can focus on are those damn notes.

One in his locker.

One in a book from the library.

A book from the reading list that Mr Kim gave him. It is almost as though his admirer knew he was going to pick up that exact copy.

The teacher accuses him of cheating when he takes another peek at them under the desk, even though there isn't a test so it's rather stupid of her.

Deep creases are chiselled through the pieces of paper from the amount of times he has folded and unfolded and refolded them. But the lettering stays in place, firm and insistent for him to attempt to unpick their meaning.

Maybe Jeno was right. Maybe there is some sort of hidden message.

But the teacher is shouting at him again, so he is forced to push them away and read aloud a passage from the textbook.


	4. Chapter 4

The history textbook weighs his bag down terribly and rain is still pouring from the murky clouds when they are dismissed from the final lesson of the day. Donghyuck trudges along the pavement. His boots now feel heavy on his feet and his hair is dripping wet by the time he reaches his front door.

He locks it behind him and spends a moment recomposing himself in the hallway. Now that the warmth of the abode is wrapped around his shoulders, his shivers are more noticeable and he stares at his appearance in the mirror. His hair is stuck to his forehead and the dark rings around his eyes have become waterfalls of hellish, ominous eyeshadow and mascara that run down his cheeks.

He looks like a mess.

"What happened to you?" Donghyuck jumps several inches off the ground when his father appears in the doorway.

His figure is tall and his shadow looms along the entire length of the blue rug on the floor. The lanyard from school still hangs around his neck. Donghyuck swallows. A hint of irritation seeps out of his dad's tone and he does not like it. He especially doesn't like it when Johnny folds his arms and raises an eyebrow, clearly expecting an answer from his son.

"I..." Donghyuck begins. He doesn't know what to say. His teeth grind together and his jeans cling to his thighs. Maybe that's why it took him an extra twenty-eight minutes to walk home.

"Doesn't matter. Let's get you dried off. I need to speak to you." His father steps towards him and he can't stop himself from flinching.

Johnny, his dad, Mr Suh, whatever you want to call him, is not far from a foot taller than him. Donghyuck doesn't remember a single smidgen of his mother, but he can guess he must have inherited his shorter height from her, not his father.

But Donghyuck doesn't care about that. Not when Johnny just said the words. The Words of Doom.

_I need to speak to you._

Any conversation that begins with that never ends well, Donghyuck can tell you so from experience.

He accepts a towel from his dad and starts a pathetic attempt at drying the rain from his hair. His eyes don't diverge from the man, who is still looking down at him. Looking down on him. Donghyuck could sense his disappointment from a mile away.

"And wipe that dreadful makeup off." Johnny grumbles. "I'll be in the kitchen."

He turns and walks away, leaving his son in the hallway, still with drops of water dripping from his hair and streaks of black makeup smudged over his cheeks. Donghyuck spots the lethargy in his dad's steps and the exhaustion in his voice.

But it's always like this. The tension beneath their roof never seems to end. Not even when Jeno or Jisung come around. Johnny just keeps out of the way; he understands the embarrassment Donghyuck must feel from having his dad as the headteacher.

Donghyuck grabs his schoolbag and treks upstairs. His bag joins the piles of clothes and books and scrunched up paper littering his carpet, then he makes his way into the bathroom. The mirror in there doesn't flatter him any more than the mirror in the hallway.

With a sigh, he yanks a makeup wipe from the packet and drags it across his skin. It's rough and harsh, leaving his cheek stinging, but it stings no more than his eyes.

He knows his dad doesn't have it easy. But neither does he. They are in a constant battle of hostility and silence and then shouting and arguing, day in, day out. He knows that being the headmaster of his school must not be easy, because he has to spend his lessons with the students so has seen and heard first-hand of all the gossip and fights and expulsions over the years.

And he knows that Johnny is still trying to recover from the death of his mother.

Donghyuck himself knows little about the woman. His father has never really spoken about her. And he has never asked. He doesn't think he misses her. How can he, when they only got to spend seven months together?

Because of this, Donghyuck has no idea how to help his dad. He has his own issues to deal with. Battling with the teachers being the main one. In the moments where his words bite just a little too hard, he recoils with guilt and slinks away into his room, or takes a two hour walk to burn off some steam, but it is always too late.

He has done the damage. And his father cries himself to sleep.

Splashing ice cold water over his face helps him to cool himself down. It removes any traces of tears and he dumps the wipe in the bin, inhales deeply, and unlocks the bathroom door to go and find Johnny in the kitchen.

"Sit down." His dad doesn't look up from his coffee when he addresses his son. Donghyuck follows the order, silent.

"How was your day?" Donghyuck asks. Trying to be a nice and considerate son could ease the blow of whatever scolding is bubbling on the tip of Johnny's tongue.

"Fine." The man replies. Plain and unbothered. Donghyuck stares at him. "The usual." He adds. Not that it elaborates the situation at all.

"Mine was okay, Dad." Donghyuck says even though he wasn't asked. His voice trembles and he lowers his eyes to look at the wood of the table. There's a new scratch on it.

It makes him think of Jeno and his cats. And his loving family. They're not blood-related, but they care for him and look out for him and leave thoughtful notes in his lunchbox. They make him feel loved. Whilst Donghyuck and his dad are trapped in a pit of silence. They're both stranded too far away from each other, even though they are sat merely on opposite sides of the tiny kitchen table.

"Why did I receive an email from Mr Kim today?" Johnny speaks and Donghyuck wasn't expecting him to cut to the point so quickly. He usually prods around a bit first to see if he can prise a confession out of him.

"Dunno." Donghyuck mumbles and digs his nails into the scratch. His neck is itchy from the rain soaked into his shirt.

"Speak up." His father scolds him.

"I said I don't know." Donghyuck repeats. Once again, his words leave his lips with more attack than he had intended and his father's eyebrows creep closer together.

"You do know." Johnny sighs. Neither of them have the energy for this. "He says you need tutoring and he's found a student to do it. It starts tomorrow." Donghyuck shrugs.

"Yeah. He mentioned it to me after class." He admits, still not meeting his dad's eyes.

"Why don't you ever put any effort in?" Johnny leans on his elbows and asks the question the whole world continuously fires at him.

"Because... I don't know. I don't have the motivation for it, I guess." Donghyuck's voice trails away. It's something that he has never properly thought about. Since he learnt that he has the brains, he stopped trying in class, safely sure that he'd be able to ace any exam.

Now that he thinks about it, he has no willpower left to put any effort in, even if he wanted too. Particularly not when his dad is staring at how he squirms in his chair.

"I see." The man clears his throat. Donghyuck winces. He still can't tell if he is mad at him, or just in need of a mental break. "Well, try to put effort in. You're smart. Stop letting yourself down with your poor behaviour."

"Sorry, Dad." Donghyuck forces out.

"It's no good apologising if you don't act on it." His father points out in a much sterner tone now. "Make sure that you go to this tutoring thing, alright? I won't tolerate any more slacking."

Donghyuck now dares to look at him. His eyes are sunken and ringed by dark circles not too different from the smoky eyeshadow he likes to try out. He picks the last of the nail varnish off his left thumb. It seems like the conversation isn't advancing any further.

"Can I go to Jeno's house, please?" He asks with hope. Johnny glances at the time on the cooker.

"I suppose so. Anything to get you off your computer. Be back by dinner." His father replies before burying his head in his hands.

"What are you cooking?"

"Just pizza." He looks at his son with drooping eyelids and his irises don't contain the sparkle they used to in old pictures.

"Okay. Bye Dad. I love you." Donghyuck nods slightly in his direction and just about hears how his dad croaks out his response before hurrying out of the front door.

The rain has now ceased and left grimy puddles over the pavement. They splash under his feet. The noise irritates him. Yet it isn't enough to drown out his mind.

His thoughts are rampant. He has to do better. His dad is breaking, bit by bit. His teachers are disappointed in him. He is disappointed in himself. His throat burns and constricts, forcing dampness into his eyes and an ache into his heart.

Taeyong answers the door. Nal darts between his legs to head outside, nearly knocking him off his feet, then he reforms his perfect posture in a second.

"Donghyuck, it's good to see you! How are you? Jeno!" Taeyong smiles at him with a smile so bright that it only hurts. He manages to return the pleasantries and steps inside.

Immediately, the scent of some sort of pie cooking in the oven tickles his nostrils. He desires the taste of homemade cooking so badly.

"Duckie!" Jeno charges in and tackles him with a hug. The affection wards off the heaviness on his shoulders and he laughs, finally feeling his mind clear and eagerly wrapping his arms back around his friend.

"Hey, Jen." He says. Taeyong is still watching them with the same smile, only this time it tells Donghyuck a story of his pride and parental love for Jeno. And possibly for him, too. He hopes so.

"You're all wet from the rain." Jeno frowns. Donghyuck brushes his jacket and claims that he is fine. The older won't accept it until he receives a tickle under his chin which has him screeching with laughter and scrambling to escape the evil fingertips.

"We were just having a family movie session. Want to join?" Jeno asks lightly. Donghyuck falters.

"Um... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude. I'll get going and annoy Jisung instead." Donghyuck mutters and starts to slip his feet back into his boots.

Jeno gives Taeyong a look to ask for some privacy, then turns back to his friend when he has left.

"Duckie? What's wrong?" He places a hand on Donghyuck's shoulder that feels soothing and uncomfortable all at the same time.

"Nothing. What do you mean? I'm alright. Just... tired." Donghyuck insists. But his grin is so false that Jeno's expression doesn't change from its concerned frown in the slightest.

"You're usually so bubbly and energetic. Has something happened?"

What happened is that Donghyuck has had another conversation with his father. Each time they meet in an awkward and stern exchange, it drains all the life out of him. Over the years, he has learnt to put on a brave face and pretend like his time spent at home isn't so tense as it really is.

"Was it your dad?"

Donghyuck crumples into Jeno's arms when his friend hits the nail directly on the head in one swift move mastered from years of careful observations and quite a few late-night rants slash breakdowns.

"Let's go upstairs." Jeno helps him up and he collapses onto the solar system duvet like he did previously, only now his limbs are weak and the sweet scent of the linen is enough to cloud his mind up again.

"Mr Kim emailed my dad." Donghyuck stuffs his face into the oversized teddy bear which always takes prime position next to Jeno's pillows.

"Oh dear." Jeno offers a response. Truthfully, he doesn't know what to say.

"He didn't shout at me. Don't worry. It was just tense. Like usual." He sighs when Jeno starts to play with his hair in the way he often does to him. Receiving the love in that moment is too much for Donghyuck. Too overwhelming after days of silence at home.

"Don't cry, Hyuck. Please. It'll be okay." The bed dips as Jeno lays down next to him and buries his cheek into his shoulder. He can feel his glasses digging into him, but he doesn't complain.

"Thank you." He whispers. It's hard to speak but he has to let Jeno know that he is appreciated.

They lay next to each other, still and quiet, for a good half an hour. Jaehyun pokes his head around the door to check on them, but Jeno only shoos him away with a promise that everything is okay. From the heavy sigh he then lets out, Donghyuck can tell that his friend is guilty.

Which makes Donghyuck guilty. He is worrying Jeno and it's not fair. So he sits up, takes a deep breath and stands to stretch out his bad thoughts.

Jeno watches him raise his arms above his head and move his ankles in circles with disapproving eyes.

"I'm stretching. It's meant to be good for the mind." Donghyuck explains before Jeno can get a word out.

"Since when were you into that?" Jeno rolls his eyes.

Donghyuck bends down to touch his toes. He winces when his calves tinge and his fingertips are quite a few inches away from their goal. He plays it off by standing up straight and rolling his shoulders.

"Since, like, a minute ago?" Donghyuck jokes and a smile reaches Jeno's eyes at the return of his usual demeanour. "Wait, what's that?"

He spots something on Jeno's desk and steps closer to take a look. Jeno is at his side in a flash.

"What's what?"

"This." Donghyuck picks up the note and waves it in his friend's face. Jeno frowns, then his mouth opens with realisation.

"Oh, that." He mutters.

"Yes. Where did you get it?" Donghyuck asks. "Are you the person who's been sending them? Are _you_ my secret admirer?"

"No!" Jeno waves his hands around to emphasise his claim, flustered. "No. It's not me. It was in my locker. But it's still addressed to you."

The younger inspects the note and sure enough, it is addressed to him, in exactly the same style as the previous two.

_i neVer waNt to sEE you cRy b3cause you deseRve to be hapPy foreVer_

Donghyuck wonders what his admirer would think if they knew that he was literally just on the verge of tears, then narrows his eyes with suspicion towards his friend. Jeno is shuffling his feet around and wringing his hands behind his back.

He decides to let it drop. Hopefully he can get to the bottom of it soon.


	5. Chapter 5

Donghyuck hangs around outside the science classroom and mentally weighs up different ways to make an entrance. Another student is already sat at a table, scrolling through his phone whilst Mr Kim is at his own desk marking students' books.

He peers at them through the little square of glass in the door. His lungs stop working for a short moment when his eyes meet with Mr Kim's.

"Donghyuck!" The teacher barks and he fumbles to open the door, slamming it behind him again with more force than he had planned.

The student glances up from his phone to look at him. Donghyuck realises he must appear rather flustered when the other raises his eyebrows. He can feel him judging him and he bites on his bottom lip. What a fantastic start.

"You're late." Mr Kim taps his pen on the desk. The noise irritates Donghyuck. "Take a seat next to Renjun."

Renjun. Donghyuck wonders where the boy sat in front of him is from. The name sounds foreign and he has certainly never seen him around school before. He trusts his sharp senses enough to be sure about that. Renjun's hair is blond, clearly dyed from the way the darkness of his roots are visible on the top of his head. It is fluffy too, with crinkly waves rippling through it to give it a bit of texture. His lips shimmer in the light. The deep pink of his gloss contrasts the delicate paleness of his skin.

He may be cute, but Donghyuck doesn't like him. He is determined to not like him.

"Since when have you been to this school?" He spits out. Mr Kim sighs in the corner but doesn't scold him.

"I started here last week." Renjun replies. His voice is high and his words are formed with a perfect politeness that Donghyuck doesn't think he's ever been able to muster in his life.

"Last week?" Donghyuck glares at the teacher with exasperation, disbelief and, quite honestly, offense. Renjun just nods. "Shouldn't I be the one tutoring you, then?"

"Donghyuck, be quiet and listen to what he says." Mr Kim speaks up from his seat and pushes a pile of books out of the way to make space to type at his keyboard.

"No. Why do I have to listen to him? He's new! How come he's tutoring me?" Donghyuck raises his voice and stamps his feet on the floor. Renjun and the teacher exchange a silent conversation.

"I'll email your father again." Mr Kim warns. That alone is enough to get Donghyuck to back down and slump into his seat.

A group of students charge through the corridor outside. Their footsteps are heavy and loud and their voices ring over each other in several different conversations. Everyone else gets to go home, whilst Donghyuck is cooped up in a classroom. Trapped in the classroom.

"It's not fair." He grumbles and flicks a pencil shaving onto the floor.

"Nothing's fair in life." Renjun muses.

Donghyuck stares at the boy when he pulls out a textbook and some worksheets from his yellow bag. His chill vibes are weirding him out. And so is the way he keeps looking at Mr Kim. Glancing sideways, just quickly, but each time it lasts long enough for a silent conversation to happen.

"Are you two telepathic or some shit?" Donghyuck blurts out. Renjun flicks the textbook open and finds the worksheet that corresponds to it.

Neither him nor the teacher answer him. He doesn't even get a scolding from Mr Kim for his rude language.

"I thought we'd do some simple homeostasis revision today." Renjun says, as though Donghyuck had never even opened his mouth.

Donghyuck looks at the clock. It's only quarter to four. Which means that scarcely fifteen minutes have passed. He groans and hits his forehead on the desk.

"Don't do that. You'll hurt yourself and you could end up with concussion." Renjun advises, still in the same slow and wilting tone he hasn't diverged from at all yet. Donghyuck finds his voice pretty.

"What's homeostasis?" Donghyuck asks. He doesn't remember learning about that. "And how will studying it help me in my future adult life?"

"Donghyuck." Mr Kim grits his teeth and scowls at the student, mentally cursing whoever decided to put the boy in his class. "We spent nearly a month of lessons covering homeostasis."

"Yeah? Well I don't think I remember anything about it." Donghyuck looks up at the ceiling. There are strange, unidentifiable stains that only lead to the question of how on Earth did _that_ make it on the _ceiling_ in the first place?

"You also scored perfect marks in the topic test." Mr Kim reminds him. Donghyuck's eyebrows raise comically.

"I did?" He asks. If he thinks really hard, he can remember the topic and its boring test, but he just can't be bothered to entertain the teacher in that way.

"That's why it's good to do revision and recap over previous topics, not just what's currently being covered in class. Doing it periodically and increasing the gap before you revise it each time can really improve your memory of it." Renjun explains as he scans over the textbook to decide where to start.

Donghyuck pulls the book towards him. He despises Renjun even more for spewing the exact nonsense that has been thrown at them in nearly every assembly these recent months.

"You may as well just give it to me to read. Then you can shut up." He exclaims. Renjun scoffs next to him and the teacher just picks up his phone.

"No. I'm here to help you." The blond boy insists and drags the textbook back in front of him.

"For Christ's sake, now you sound like the school's supposed student support team." Donghyuck mutters.

For a few more dreadful minutes, the only sound in the room is Renjun's highlighter across the textbook. Finally, he begins to talk through the details of the topic, stopping every now and again to ask if Donghyuck is following. He just grunts in response each time.

Renjun even sets him some worksheets to complete and then has the audacity to pull out his phone and begin typing away whilst Donghyuck crosses his arms in protest. He refuses to speak until Mr Kim's phone pings with a message.

"Why is your phone not on silent? Give it to me." Donghyuck mocks exactly how the teacher would tell him off if the roles were switched.

Donghyuck is completely, utterly bored. So bored that his head hurts. He hasn't finished a single question on the worksheets yet. And he doesn't plan to.

This doesn't feel like a tutoring session to him.

He takes another long glance at Renjun. The angle his head is tilted at accentuates the shine of highlight dusted on his cheeks, complimented with a small hint of mascara. His eyes are deep and tell many stories. He seems like a mysterious boy, which makes Donghyuck intrigued and repulsed at the same time. Donghyuck still doesn't know where he came from. But thinking down that lane makes him all the more angry that Mr Kim is belittling him by forcing him to get tutored by someone who only walked through the school gates a week ago. He has been stuck here for five whole years and _this_ is how he gets paid?

Something deep down in his gut is screaming at him to just stand up and walk out, however the stern words of his father taunt his mind. If putting up with this for another ten minutes is all he has to do to make him happier, then he might as well be a decent son and do it.

And Renjun draws him in. He wants to learn about him, in a weird way he doesn't want to acknowledge.

His mind wanders, and so do his eyes. They travel over the various posters with exemplar exam answers and students' work and the oversized periodic table before landing on Mr Kim. Who is staring straight back.

The teacher clears his throat, runs a hand through his hair, then leans over the work he is marking. Donghyuck chews on the inside of his cheek. He dislikes Mr Kim and now he is acting creepy just to top it all off.

Renjun is still typing on his phone and another faint vibration is heard from across the room, at the teacher's desk.

"Are you texting each other or something?" Donghyuck huffs.

The fleeting eye contact between Renjun and Mr Kim makes his eyes widen and he sits up straight, not sure who to look at or what to say. Renjun's voice saves him from having to compute the possible information any further.

"Have you finished the work yet? It's gone four o'clock." He pulls back his jumper sleeve to check the time on a dainty watch, despite how he has spent nearly the entire session on his phone which displays the numbers more clearly. Donghyuck has to at least give him credit for his quick thinking; he changed the subject smoothly and skilfully.

"It's four? That means I can go, right?" Donghyuck pulls his bag onto his shoulder and pushes back his chair. Mr Kim tuts from across the room.

"No."

"All you ever say to me is 'no'!" Donghyuck fumes. He is so close to freedom, yet so far away because Mr Kim has his steely eyes fixed on him.

"Because I am telling you that no, you cannot leave yet."

"Why not?" Donghyuck stamps his foot again in a show he is aware is reminiscent of a stroppy toddler, but he doesn't care.

"Have you started on the reading list yet?" Mr Kim comes around to lean against his desk, arms folded across his chest in a pose that is just so teacher-like. Donghyuck straightens his shoulders and grins.

"Yes." Mr Kim's wide eyes give away how he is shocked that the nightmare of a student has actually done something he asked. "I have, actually. I took out _The Elegant Universe_ from the library."

Mr Kim looks at Renjun, who nods back at him. The gesture is so faint that Donghyuck nearly misses it. But it is there.

"Well done." Mr Kim praises.

"So... can I go now?"

"You didn't do the worksheets I gave to you." Renjun points at the empty lines and boxes on the pieces of paper. Donghyuck scowls.

"Shut it. I listened to your explanations. It was helpful. Thank you." Maybe seeming grateful can get the other student to drop it. Considering that they are in the same year, it is almost scary how strict Renjun is towards him.

"I guess today can be treated as an introductory session. I won't make you do the sheets for homework. So you can go. Thank you for turning up." Mr Kim shoos Donghyuck away.

The student doesn't waste any time. He is out of the classroom before the other two can take another breath. The corridors are empty, the fluorescent strip light flickering unnervingly above his head.

Overall, he considers the past thirty minutes to have been a waste of time. He can now remember what homeostasis is, but he didn't learn anything new.

Except Renjun's name. It still bothers him an awful lot. The general mannerisms of the boy - his pretty, innocent facial features then contrasted with his eerily flat tone - weirded him out. He has no idea if he will become friend or foe. But with his predisposed hatred towards him because Mr Kim favours him over Donghyuck, it is more likely he will become foe. But it's still early days.

Donghyuck pulls his phone out of his pocket. Its presence had been tempting him for the entire tutoring session, especially with the other two on their own devices nearly the whole time. He also picked up on the pattern fairly soon. Renjun would type, then Mr Kim would check his phone and type, then Renjun would type. It went on.

The hairs on his arms stand on end when the more self-conscious side of him overthinks the situation. He has to reassure himself that they were not texting to ridicule him, and it was just a coincidence.

A huge coincidence.

He now turns on his phone and opens up his messages with Jeno right away.

_Hey Nono_   
_I just had the tutoring thing :(((( tell me a joke to make me feel better_

_Hi Duckieee o(^_ ▽ _^)o_  
 _A joke? Ummm_  
 _I don't know :( I'm sorry. I can look one up if u give me a sec_

_Awww_   
_Ily jeno bby ;)_   
_It's alright dw_

_Did it not go very well?_   
_I can call you and we can talk if u want?_

_Can we?? Please???_   
_I miss you :(_

_We had last period together dummy_

_But that was aaaages ago_

_If u say so_   
_Yes we can call ^^_

_Ur the best <3 i'll text u when I get home_

_( ^ω^ )_   
_Ily too Duckie_

The conversation is cute and lifts Donghyuck's spirits enough for a smile to blossom across his cheeks.

But it dies when he hears two voices coming from the classroom he just left.

"Was that the book?"

"Yes."

"Sure?"

"Yes, Doyoung. I'm sure."


	6. Chapter 6

A football smacks against the tarmac of the playground not far from where Jisung is stood and he yelps with shock, causing Jeno and Donghyuck to clap their hands as they laugh. Their breaths turn to white clouds in front of their faces. Jisung scowls and huddles closer into Jeno's side. Every few seconds he turns to look at the group of older students hoofing the ball around, paranoid that someone could get hurt.

"What were you saying, Hyuck?" Jeno looks at Donghyuck, who is staring off at the football. His eyes follow it each time it flies through the air and he looks like he wants to shoot it down with the heat in his glare.

"I was saying, before we were so rudely interrupted, that I don't like Renjun." Donghyuck grits his teeth as he speaks. Jeno and Jisung share a glance. "Don't look at each other like that. That's exactly what Mr Kim and Renjun were doing the entire time. Or rather, Doyoung and Renjun."

"Doyoung?" Jeno repeats the name with a confused grunt. Donghyuck had indeed called him yesterday evening but he had never mentioned that name; they just talked about video games instead. He pulls his coat sleeves over his hands to try to warm himself up. Curse the teachers for shoving them out into the cold.

The playground is packed with students, all crowded in bubbles of their friendship groups to chatter and gossip and do what looks like a very dodgy deal from where the three of them are stood in the far corner, next to the tall hedge. Donghyuck grinds a stone under his foot. It picks up some of the fading green paint that marks out the lines of a basketball court. Or maybe a tennis court. Donghyuck isn't that into sports.

"Yeah. Do. Young." He utters bitterly.

"What?" Jisung asks. When the teacher on duty turns away, he gets out his phone to check the time.

It's not the latest model device. Instead it is a fairly cheap phone that Jeno and Donghyuck both chipped in to buy for him for his birthday earlier on in the year because his parents clearly have no intention of getting one. It is his first ever phone, so he is ever grateful for his two friends. The time appears on the screen and they still have to suffer eleven more minutes in the cold of breaktime.

"That's what Renjun called Mr Kim." Donghyuck clarifies.

"Kim Doyoung." Jeno tries out the name. "And he called him that in front of you?"

"After I'd left the room. They probably thought I wouldn't hear it or something." Donghyuck says. The other two nod slowly, frowning and trying to figure out a reasonable explanation.

"That's weird." Jisung mutters.

"Yes. It is weird, and just creepy. I'm pretty sure they were texting each other, too." Donghyuck rubs his hands together to gain some warmth from the friction.

When he receives two puzzled stares, he explains how he noticed them take turns in typing on their phones.

"Oh, and Mr Kim also asked if it was 'the book'." Donghyuck adds. Jisung checks his phone again. Only two more minutes have passed. Time really is against them.

They all watch and judge a group of boys who decide to start throwing grapes at each other to catch them in their mouths, but most of them bounce onto the ground and only end up being squashed by other students.

"That's also weird." Jeno muses and pushes his glasses up his nose. "As in, the book you took out from the library? The one on the reading list and had the note in it?"

"I assume so." Donghyuck rolls his eyes when the boys realise they have run out of grapes. A flock of pesky seagulls dives down to whisk some of the wasted food away. They don't live near a beach and nor is it summer, so Donghyuck swears at them for being too noisy and irritating.

"I'm telling you, these notes are really suspicious." Jeno insists but his friend just looks at him, unamused.

"I don't care if they're suspicious. I just want them to stop. They're annoying. Can't they confess to me in person?" Donghyuck grumbles. "I'm clearly single over here."

His eye catches a student in the year below staring at him, but she hurriedly turns away when she realises she has been spotted.

"I bet it's her." Donghyuck points at the girl and Jisung tuts.

"Like half the school is staring at you like you're crazy." Jisung says. Donghyuck asks him what he means by that. "I hate to break it to you, but ripped jeans and a crop top are not exactly suitable clothes for this weather."

Donghyuck looks down at how there is a tiny strip of skin showing between the high waistband of his jeans and the bottom of his t-shirt. He blushes and zips up his coat.

"It's not _that_ cropped." He argues.

But the other two don't hear it because they have to go back inside for lessons.

｡｡oOo｡｡

Nothing spectacular happens during the rest of the day, until Donghyuck reaches his locker and another note drifts out. He picks it up, doesn't bother reading it and then grabs his recorder and music bag. 

He prides himself in his recorder skills. A lot of people stereotype the instrument as being childish and squeaky, which proves that they have never heard him play, because he is learning it properly with proper repertoire and a proper teacher. He even bought a real, wooden recorder with his savings.

"What was that?" A voice next to him startles him and he nearly drops his sheet music. Not that he'd mind if the first movement of the Vivaldi concerto he is learning went missing. The trills and runs are so fast that his fingers turn numb.

Anyway, back to his father.

The man's shadow casts over Donghyuck's jittery eyes and he looks around, but the corridors are empty, as most of the school has already left through the gates.

"I asked you a question." Mr Suh scolds and Donghyuck fumbles to neaten the stack of music in his hands, nearly dropping them again.

"What was what?" Donghyuck genuinely doesn't know what his dad is talking about. His eyes keep darting around. He is paranoid that another student could overhear this conversation - not many people know that the headmaster is his dad. Instead of being the class clown, he would become the laughing stock of the entire school in a flash.

"The paper you pocketed." Johnny motions to the pocket on Donghyuck's puffy coat. The garment was his birthday present last year and has a fluffy hood which he is grateful for at this time of year. He quickly looks down to check that it is zipped up. He doesn't want his dad to see what he is wearing underneath.

"It was just my timetable, Dad." Donghyuck replies. The man raises an eyebrow and Donghyuck really doesn't want to argue. Not whilst they're at school. Not when another student could overhear them.

"If you say so. Do you have a recorder lesson now?" He looks at the music and instrument case in Donghyuck's hands and his son nods. "Well, have fun. You've practiced a lot recently and your pieces are coming along nicely."

Donghyuck can't believe his ears. Did he just compliment him? It is true, he has practiced nearly every single day over the past week and he hopes that his teacher will pick up on it.

"Thanks." He says, still slightly suspicious of where the sudden praise is coming from. "Are you leaving now?"

The headteacher fiddles with the lanyard around his neck and nods.

"I just need to grab my bag from the staffroom. Now go to your lesson, you don't want to be late."

Donghyuck scurries away, relieved that he got away with the small lie and hoping that his fingers won't betray him in front of his recorder teacher, although it is always a bit hit-and-miss, and he thinks that today is possibly the most boring day of his life - all the conversations he's had so far have been as dry as the unbuttered toast he ate for breakfast.

｡｡oOo｡｡

"Renjun." Donghyuck spits out the name as soon as he stops in front of the other student.

Renjun's hair is straight today, but he has a fleeting thought that it still looks just as good and he wants to smack himself.

"Donghyuck." His name sounds sweet yet also mocking as it rolls off Renjun's tongue. He bets that he knows how to use his tongue when kissing and-

No. Just stop thinking.

"What are you doing still in school?" Donghyuck pries to distract himself.

"I could say the same about you." Renjun responds and doesn't even let a smirk take over his face, which stays as uninterested as ever when he tries to step around the other boy, who just steps aside to block his path.

"Don't go. I asked you something." Donghyuck says. He now realises he sounds way too much like his dad when he talks. "I was at a recorder lesson."

"You play recorder?" A faint smile finally graces Renjun's lips and his eyes lower to take in the sight of the music in Donghyuck's hand. "I didn't know you were still in primary school."

"Shut up. It's a proper instrument. It's just that dumb kids ruin it when they get their hands on it." Donghyuck replies. It's an argument he has made use of countless times. But somehow the teasing from people still hasn't diminished his love for the instrument.

"If you say so." Renjun quips.

"Can you answer my question now?"

"I was at a book club meeting." Renjun adjusts the straps on his yellow rucksack as he answers.

"A book club? I didn't even know our school had a book club. I bet you made the reading list for Mr Kim, didn't you? If you love reading and shit that much." Donghyuck bites back. "How is Doyoung, by the way?"

Renjun's eyes shoot open and he freezes for a couple of seconds. The thoughts whirring through his mind are obvious from the way he opens and closes his mouth. Donghyuck smiles. He has truly trumped him. He has finally got him to shut up.

"Goodbye, Donghyuck. See you in tutoring. Maybe." Renjun says, voice firmer than his expression might suggest and he turns and walks right away to disappear around the corner.

So Donghyuck leaves, too.

He marches home, boots crunching over the leaves and kicking every tiny inconvenience of a pebble out of his way. It helps to let out some of his anger at himself. There is no way that his heart is falling for the most annoying and snobby person he has met. He is cute, though. No, he's not cute. He tells himself this in a crazy mantra.

Renjun is not cute.

No.

Absolutely not.

Donghyuck wants to divert to Jeno's house to calm down a little and maybe steal some of his herbal teas, but he doesn't. He could do with a nice, warm drink to soothe him and get some energy into his bones. His fingers are numb: a combination of both the insane difficulty of the recorder concerto and the cold air.

His father is seemingly waiting for him when he walks through the front door. He watches his son take off his coat and his eyebrows climb up his forehead when he sees his choice of outfit.

"Where did you get that top from?" He barks, the sudden anger in his voice scaring Donghyuck a little. He quickly broadens his shoulders and stares up at his father with as much confidence as possible.

"I bought it several months ago. I won't wear it to school again. I'm sorry." He says. Johnny lets his features relax and he smiles softly down at his son.

"I'm sorry for shouting. It just... shocked me to see you wear that. You can wear it, I don't mind. I can't control your choice of clothing."

Donghyuck nods and hurries up the stairs and into his room with his school stuff. He quite literally tips his rucksack upside down and the textbooks tumble out. He didn't need his laptop today, but did take his pencil case and the stationary rattles as it hits the carpet.

He glances at his maths homework, beats another level on a video game, texts Jeno and spams Jisung with memes before his father calls him downstairs. Sighing, he treads down with heavy footsteps and finds the man in the kitchen, stirring some kind of hotpot.

"Donghyuck, I spoke to Mr Kim in the staffroom after school today when I went to collect my things." This conversation is likely to go downhill very, very soon. But Johnny puts down the spoon and wipes his hands on a tea towel, smiling which inspires some confidence in his son. "He said that tutoring went really well yesterday."

Donghyuck drops his mouth open in shock, but he quickly manages to hide his surprise with a smug smile.

"I think it did, yeah." Did Mr Kim really say that, or is this some kind of trap? "Renjun helped me a lot. We revised homeostasis." His treads carefully with his words and he ensures that he maintains an innocent expression. It makes his cheeks itch a little.

"That's amazing to hear. Keep it up."

Donghyuck grins, chuffed. Johnny goes back to stirring and adds some more seasoning to the food. Donghyuck's stomach rumbles at the aroma of proper homemade cooking.

He walks back up to his room, happy but also confused as to why Mr Kim told his father that everything went well, when it was really just him refusing to work and bickering with Renjun.

He'll take the compliment, though.


	7. Chapter 7

"Oi, Dong!"

Donghyuck whips his head around to try to find the source of the shout. He is pretty sure they're referring to him and not the maths teacher, but he can't quite place the voice until he locks eyes with Renjun and immediately turns back to his lunch. Now he knows why he couldn't recognise the voice; his stubbornness had certainly blocked it out of his memory.

"Donghyuck! Don't ignore me!" Renjun stands up now to holler over the other tables and get his attention.

"Is that Renjun?" Jeno whispers to his friend, frowning and sinking into the chair because other students are beginning to cast their glances in their direction. Donghyuck nods and rolls his eyes.

"Come and sit over here!" When Donghyuck risks another look, Renjun is waving his arms around and beckoning the three of them to join them.

"Why the fuck does he want us to sit with them?" Donghyuck mutters, using his hand as a shield to try to avoid more unnecessary eye contact.

"Maybe he just wants to get to know you?" Jisung suggests. But he poses it as a question and is awkwardly staring at Renjun with as much discomfort as Jeno.

"Doubt it." Donghyuck scoffs.

"Dong!"

"Shut the fuck up!"

"Oooh!" A ripple of laughter and shouts passes through the students when Donghyuck swears because they are all thoroughly invested in the exchange between the two.

"But just yesterday we had a disagreement." Donghyuck says. Jeno and Jisung are already well-versed in the happenings of the previous day, where Renjun claimed to be in a book club and then avoided the conversation about Mr Kim, otherwise known as Doyoung. Donghyuck had ranted to Jeno for nearly half an hour over a video call.

"I swear to God, if you do not get your butt over here in-"

"Fine!" Donghyuck slams his fist onto the table, causing Jisung and Jeno to jump, before roughly gathering his things and storming over to Renjun. Jeno and Jisung meekly follow.

Donghyuck chucks his lunchbox down, collapses into a chair and glares at Renjun.

"Happy now?" He snarls.

Inside, he is completely confused. Their first two encounters did not give him the impression that Renjun would ever shout like that at all. He seemed to be a composed person, with good manners and only occasionally a sharp tongue.

"Duckie... Um, Donghyuck?" Jeno turns to his friend and mumbles under his breath.

"Mmh?" Donghyuck leans in to hear Jeno better and prompt him to speak, his face softening for a moment.

"He's scary." Jeno stutters and Donghyuck frowns in pity.

"Renjun." The named boy raises an eyebrow at his tutee. "You will not be a bitch to my friends, you hear me?"

Jeno widens his eyes and shakes his head at Donghyuck. He can sense that people are still watching them and waiting for another shouting match to begin, which makes his skin crawl and his throat closes in on itself just enough so that his breathing is crackly.

"Do you hear me?" Donghyuck hisses. Renjun holds up his hands as though to cease his anger and get him to calm down. It doesn't work.

"Yeah, yeah, alright. And don't speak like that. It's not good for your throat." Renjun replies. His airy, know-it-all tone is back and Donghyuck is somehow relieved that the previous version of his... acquaintance? has returned.

Donghyuck spends a long minute examining him and how he eats his grapes. Renjun is skilfully picking each grape off the stalks and wolfing them down as though the fruit is all he has eaten all week. Perhaps the healthy choice suggests why he is so slender. Donghyuck stares at his own chocolate bar and slides it towards Jisung. The youngest looks at him with confusion but accepts it anyway. His bruised apple is not enough food to pull him through the day.

"And who are you?" Donghyuck's eyes hone in on the presence of another student sat next to Renjun.

The black-haired boy has been quiet the entire time, simply observing the conversation and sipping at a flask of what smells like an incredibly intense coffee.

"He's Jaemin." Renjun responds through a mouthful of grapes.

"I can speak for myself." Jaemin says, then turns to smile at Jeno, Jisung and Donghyuck with bright, white teeth and a playful glint in his eye. Renjun grunts.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Jisung." Jisung says as politely as possible. He desperately wants to make a good impression and even straightens his back when he notices Jaemin's own immaculate posture.

Jeno nods in Jaemin's direction and opens his mouth. A choked squeak forces itself out and he blushes, looking down at his box of raisins when Donghyuck pats his shoulder.

"This is Jeno." He helps out his friend.

"Nice to meet you all." Jaemin smiles again and Donghyuck wants to punch the shine out of it. He doesn't know why. Probably just because he's friends with Renjun.

"So, you're the one who Renjun is sharing his wisdom with, right?" Jaemin looks at Donghyuck specifically. His eyes are sincere and his tone is almost a song, contrasting with the deep pitch of his voice.

"He hasn't shared much wisdom with me yet." Donghyuck shrugs and glares at Renjun.

"Well, I'm sure he will soon. He's very smart." Jaemin responds.

"So's Donghyuck." Jisung defends, and Jaemin can't control his smile at the sight of the younger student.

"I've never had a friend so young before." He exclaims. Jisung blushes. "This is so exciting!"

Jisung's eyes turn to Donghyuck in search of help when Jaemin leans over the table, gushing with enthusiasm to get a closer look at him.

Jeno stares right back at Jaemin. He is fascinated by the eagerness and purity in his words and actions, so much that he feels safe in his vicinity quicker than he ever has with anyone else before. Jaemin's black hair matches the deep aurora of his eyes and the strands bounce along with his words.

He can't stop replaying the mess of his introduction just now. He couldn't even spit out his name. He feels inadequate, now that he is sure he could ramble to Jaemin for hours. He seems chill and just overall _kind_.

｡｡oOo｡｡

Jeno shivers in his PE shorts, clutching the tennis racket close to his chest. This lesson is always the worst of every week by far. What a bad way to finish on a Friday afternoon.

"Why were you gawping at Jaemin like that?" Donghyuck asks as he bounces a tennis ball on the tarmac and skilfully catches it in his hands again.

Tennis nets have been strung up across the playground and students are zooming around, controlled by a combination of their shivering bones and their lack of competence at the sport. Balls are flying about all over the place and rarely making contact with anyone's racket. The teacher, Mr Leechaiyapornkul, or just Mr Lee for short, is wrapped up in a scarf and a puffy coat, looking at his phone, warm and toasty.

Typical teachers.

Sometimes Donghyuck really wants to have a word with his father for hiring the people he does.

"I wasn't gawping at him." Jeno whines. Donghyuck now switches to throwing the ball in the air as he gives the older a look of utter disapproval.

"Yes, you were." Donghyuck insists. "I'm not mad. Don't worry." Jeno's features relax and he readjusts his grip on the racket.

"Then why are you asking?" He blinks at Donghyuck. Mr Lee always makes him take his glasses off for 'safety purposes' but Donghyuck is sure he is doing it just to be spiteful.

"Because I never would have thought that my baby Jeno would ever fall for anyone so quickly." Donghyuck exclaims.

"I'm not your baby." Jeno pouts.

"That proves my point." Donghyuck sniffs and primes himself to hit the ball over the net.

"Boys!" The teacher barks. They both sigh and turn to Mr Lee.

"We're literally about to start!" Donghyuck shouts back. Mr Lee makes some comment about them not being out of breath yet and Donghyuck sneakily gives him a middle finger when he turns his back to saunter off again.

"Be careful, Duckie." Jeno mumbles. Donghyuck ruffles his hair and suggests that he take his place on the other side of the net to receive his serve.

They bat the ball back and forth for several minutes. Every few hits, one of them misses, groans and bends down to pick it up from the ground, fingers red with the cold and their energy dwindling away with ease.

"This sucks." Donghyuck complains when he misses for the seventh time. Jeno doesn't reply, instead just nodding in vague agreement.

Another student captures the bucket of tennis balls and begins to lob them at his friends, which stirs chaos into the entire class and Mr Lee blows on the plastic whistle around his neck. It does absolutely nothing to stop the shrieks. It only takes another minute or so for everything to have escalated into a full fight. Students grab whatever tennis balls they can find and hurl them at each other. People cry out when they are hit, and laugh when they hit someone else.

Jeno shuffles to hide partly behind Donghyuck, also hunching his back to make himself shorter. Donghyuck takes a protective hold on his wrist.

"I'll get Mr Suh!" Mr Lee's voice manages to reign above everyone else's, despite his small frame. Donghyuck smirks at the sight of his classmates scurrying back to their assigned courts to get back to playing an attempt at tennis.

"They're really scared of my dad, huh?" Donghyuck snickers. He hears Jeno take a deep breath before he emerges and heads to the other side of the net again.

"He's tall. Looks intimidating." Jeno says. The reasons he offers only makes Donghyuck inhale and roll his eyes.

"Both Taeyong and Jaehyun are tall." He fights back at the same time as he whacks the tennis ball over the net with his racket.

It whizzes away and hits the net of the next court along. The students there shout with surprise. One of them catches the ball and turns around to try to find who it belongs to, then lobs it to Donghyuck when he waves his arms around to signal that it's theirs. He nods in gratitude.

"Sorry." Jeno mumbles. Donghyuck doesn't actually hear it, but he can work out what he said from the way his lips moved. He has become excellent at lip-reading over the years because of this.

"Don't be sorry. I keep missing the ball, too." He serves again, much softer this time. It bounces just in front of Jeno to give him enough time to squint and hit it back.

"But Taeyong and Jaehyun aren't intimidating. They're always smiling and baking and cracking jokes." Jeno replies. Donghyuck thinks it through. His friend has a point, he realises.

Donghyuck's dad is rarely smiling, he only cooks once or twice a week and is always too stern or tired to crack jokes.

"Fine. I get your point." Donghyuck lets Jeno win.

They rally a bit more and Donghyuck gets excited when they set a new record of eighteen hits before the ball flies off in a completely different direction, once again having to be returned to them by a classmate.

"We're getting better!" Jeno jumps on the balls of his feet and wrings his wrists to get some warm blood pumping through him. They're a bit more out of breath now, but moving in the cold is still tricky; their limbs are stiff and would much rather be wrapped up warm.

"Yeah, we are, Jen." Donghyuck beams back at the older.

"You know, you were staring at Renjun, too. It wasn't just me." Jeno suddenly announces.

Donghyuck brings the ball and racket back down to his sides. He watches Jeno's smirk, then it shrinks back to a concerned and worried frown, which makes him stutter to reassure Jeno that he's not angry or anything. Just stumped.

Jeno has left him speechless. He didn't realise he was staring.

Staring t the boy he claims to hate out of principal. He is torn between the sender of the notes and Renjun, both of which he finds endearing. Yet he isn't even sure if his father would support him dating a boy. They've never discussed sexuality together.

"See! You _totally_ have a crush on him." Jeno pokes the air with a finger and Donghyuck still can't find the words.

Does he have a crush on Renjun?

Thinking about it hurts both his mind and his ego, so he hits the tennis ball especially hard, sending it flying through the air and it reaches altitudes not far below the height of the nearby trees. Jeno gasps and frowns at Donghyuck, who only motions for him to go get it.

Just when he jogs off, Mr Lee shouts at Donghyuck across the playground.

"Donghyuck! Don't hit the ball that hard! You'll do some serious damage if it lands on someone!"


	8. Chapter 8

No.

It can't be true.

Is it true?

It can't be.

What a crap way to top off the delights of his miserable Monday morning.

Donghyuck glowers at Renjun, who just sauntered into their form room and plonked himself down on a chair as though he had claimed that spot years ago. He seethes.

"Jen." He leans to whisper to Jeno, who awaits what he has to say. "Why is _he_ here?"

"Oh, you mean your crush? Maybe it's fate." Jeno muses and Donghyuck is astounded. Jeno's tongue really is learning how to be savage, and now Donghyuck isn't so sure that he prefers the confident side of him anymore.

"Settle down, everyone." Mr Qian, the form tutor, claps his hands to get the students' attention. Someone just manages to throw a paper plane across the room before the teacher marches over and swipes it off the table. "I'll speak to you later." The student who received the plane opens his mouth to protest but isn't able to make his case because Mr Qian continues. "Renjun is now part of our form. I'm sure most of you have met him already."

Thirty heads swivel to find the newcomer, who waves with a gentle smile that makes Donghyuck have to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from blurting something out. He can save the accusations for later.

"He's from China. Like me." Mr Qian says with the same pride a parent would use to boast about their child. Renjun and the teacher share a pleasant smile and Donghyuck wonders just how many teachers Renjun already has wrapped around his finger. "Huáng Rén Jùn. That's the proper pronunciation of his name, if anyone's interested."

Thirty bored faces return to their initial conversations, demonstrating that no one is interested and Donghyuck sniggers. Jeno pulls a bag of gummy bears out of his schoolbag and scrunches up his face as he does his best to open it discretely. He knows that if other people catch on to the distinct rustling of a food wrapper, they will all flock to him and he does not want that at all.

"Take some, Hyuck." He nudges Donghyuck, who finally looks away from where Renjun is animatedly talking and laughing with Mr Qian. It's the easiest way for Jeno to redeem himself after making that previous comment.

The sugar and flavours in the sweets help to drown out the bitter taste left in his mouth at the sight of Renjun sucking up to the form tutor like that. Just because they're both Chinese doesn't mean that he has to bat his eyelashes and play the role of the perfect student.

Donghyuck has a bad feeling about Renjun.

"Where did you get them from?" Donghyuck whispers back and Jeno smiles cutely.

"I got them as a reward for talking about my feelings. Jaehyun said he was proud of me." Jeno beams so brightly that Donghyuck wants to squish his cheeks.

"I'm proud of you too, Nono." Donghyuck teases.

It is a mask for the sadness creeping up on him, reminding him of how badly he wants to just have a happy family, with no gaping holes or tense dinner times.

"Taeyong and Jaehyun said I can call them my dads!" Jeno exclaims and he wriggles in his seat as though the energy from the gummy bears has been released in a sudden burst.

"That's awesome!" Donghyuck high-fives his friend.

"It'll take some getting used to. I... I've never had a dad before." Jeno trails off and Donghyuck wraps him in a hug hearing the diminished tone of his voice, which the older actually accepts.

"You deserve it. You deserve such wonderful, loving dads like them." Donghyuck reassures him then sneakily grabs another few sweets from the packet, nearly pulling the bag off the table.

"Hey!" Jeno takes a hold of the bag and shoves it into his jacket pocket before Mr Qian or anyone else can notice that there is food in the room. "But thank you, Duckie. Seriously."

They continue to eat the gummy bears, with Donghyuck leaving the red ones because he knows they're Jeno's favourite. Those little things are what make their friendship special. It gives Donghyuck the energy to scrawl through his maths homework and then make his own paper plane out of it. Unlike the other student, he succeeds it flying it across the classroom without Mr Qian noticing. He smiles proudly.

"Don't you need to hand that work in?" Jeno asks him as he pushes his glasses up his nose. Today his black hoodie corresponds with the black frames of his glasses. Combined with Donghyuck's black leather jacket, they are like a pair of goths sat amongst the pops of colour on the other students' outfits.

"Yeah." Donghyuck confesses through a yawn. He squints and leans on his chair to try to find where it landed. "I'll go grab it at the end of form."

"How much longer do we have?" Jeno motions at the younger's phone poking out of the outside pocket in his bag.

"Nine minutes. Ugh." Donghyuck grumbles.

The disappointment of seeing the time contrasts with the bright smiles on the faces of his lockscreen. It's a picture from a photobooth at an amusement park he went to with Jeno and Jisung last summer, earlier in the year. They are slightly cramped in the booth, but it was the best day of their lives. Jeno had recently moved into his new home, and the sleepover that night was the first time Jisung and Donghyuck met Jaehyun and Taeyong. Donghyuck clearly remembers how delicious the food was and how Mark kept out of the way, only appearing for a minute or two when called by his parents, awkwardly introducing himself before disappearing into his bedroom again.

Jisung and Jeno weren't best pleased when Donghyuck chose that photo as his lockscreen, because anyone could see it by simply peering over his shoulder, but Donghyuck had been insistent.

"Looking for this?"

They both jolt at the sound of a voice coming from very near to them. From right behind them, in fact, because Renjun is smirking and holding Donghyuck's paper plane.

"No, I wasn't actually." Donghyuck retorts. It's true, though. He wasn't planning on getting it until the end of form. Renjun sighs and unfolds it, making Donghyuck wince. It was his best plane yet, and now all his work has been undone in barely five seconds by his mortal-enemy-slash-pathetic-crush.

"Algebra." Renjun scoffs. "You made a paper plane out of your algebra homework?"

"Yeah." Donghyuck sits up straight to try to act proud. Jeno looks between the two of them, unsure about if he should intervene or not. He wants to, but he doesn't have the courage to do so. Both Renjun and Donghyuck have the sharpest tongues in the entire school.

"And you wonder why you're in tutoring." Renjun pushes the paper against Donghyuck's chest, who grunts and snatches it off him with a dirty scowl. "Oh yeah, talking of tutoring. What days can you do?"

"I didn't know there was a choice." Donghyuck quips. He pretends to think hard. "I don't think I can do any day ending in a 'y'. Sorry." He frowns and pouts with a mocking, fake sadness and Jeno swallows hard, picking at the skin next to his fingernails.

"Shame. Because I was really looking forward to helping you recover your braincells." Renjun replies with a shrug. Donghyuck stifles a laugh.

"At least that implies that I had braincells in the past. I'll take that as a compliment. Thanks." Donghyuck picks at the other's words in a way that leaves Renjun fuming and Jeno bewildered. He corrects his previous thought, as they have both sharp tongues _and_ sharp minds.

"Just tell me when you're free." Renjun grits his teeth.

"I did tell you. Never." Donghyuck stands his ground.

Renjun is still stood front of him, which gives Donghyuck a chance to look him up and down. His frame is small and he is wearing an oversized beige hoodie that he thinks matches his blonde hair nicely.

"Stop staring at me, you asshole." Renjun's scolding has Donghyuck choking on saliva. He had never expected to hear a single curse word leave his mouth and especially not in the context of being caught checking him out.

"I was _not_." He insists, using his hands to smooth out his maths homework and slot the page into his exercise book to try to stop them from shaking.

Never has anyone had such an effect on him and his heart of steel.

"Yes, you definitely were. Now answer my question. Why can't you ever just do something I tell you to do?" Renjun kicks a lost pencil sharpener across the carpet. "Or I'll tell everyone that your quiet friend here is adopted."

Jeno freezes and a breath catches in his throat. Donghyuck literally growls and puts his arm out as a barrier between Renjun and Jeno.

"I told you not to be a bitch to my friends." He spits.

"So tell me the days, then. I need to let Mr Kim know." Renjun continues.

"W-wednesday and Friday." Jeno speaks for the first time since the battle began. Donghyuck doesn't know if he should be mad or grateful; he is pissed that Renjun has got his answer, but at the same time he does not want their rivalry to harm Jeno. He quickly glances around the room to check that no one was snooping on their conversation.

"Thank you, gosh." Renjun mutters as he pulls a slip of paper and a pen out of his pocket to write those days down, along with the classroom. He slides it across to Donghyuck and stands up straight. "I don't like having to threaten people, but I will if it's necessary. Good day." He saunters off.

Donghyuck makes it his first priority to check on Jeno. The boy is obviously shaken, with his eyes glossy and unfocussed and his hands are like ice when he takes them in his hold. Other students are starting to pack up their things around them, gossiping and complaining about whatever lesson they have first today. But Donghyuck isn't going anywhere until Jeno is alright. He calls Renjun all sorts of colourful names under his breath.

"Ignore him. If he does anything or spreads any rumours about you, I will not hesitate to beat the living daylights out of him." Donghyuck reassures his friend that he has nothing to worry about. "And if that should fail, my dad's the headteacher. I can just speak to him."

Jeno takes a few hesitant breaths and he is grateful for the warmth from his friend's hand. Just grateful for his friend in general.

"I'm sorry." He mumbles. He sinks into his chair to make himself seem smaller in the emptying room.

He watches Renjun with a careful eye as he waves goodbye to Mr Qian and struts out of the room, his yellow bag disappearing around the corner and releasing the cage from around Jeno's lungs.

"You actually made it easier by telling him what days I'm free." Donghyuck puts the gummy bear wrapper in the bin for Jeno and then zips up his bag and helps him pull it onto his back.

"Are those days alright?" He chews on his bottom lip and Donghyuck nods.

"Yes. The only day I can't do is Thursday because I have my recorder lesson, and we still have two other days to spend hanging out together." Donghyuck explains and Jeno manages to smile.

Now Donghyuck picks up the slip of paper from Renjun. He only grips it between two fingers and holds it at a distance as though it were contaminated. In neat lettering are the two days, the classroom, and a string of digits he assumes to be a phone number.

Images of late night texting and calls flood his mind, before he shoos them away with the vow to never get close to Renjun. Especially not with his rude attitude and malicious threats. He peers at the letters.

The handwriting is neat, just like the notes.

The handwriting is just like the notes.

Donghyuck and Jeno both stare at the paper, then at each other, clearly sharing the same idea.

"What the fuck?"


	9. Chapter 9

"Park." Donghyuck finds Jisung chatting with a small group of his classmates in the playground at lunch, and grabs his arm as he shouts an excuse about how he urgently needs to speak to him.

Jisung stutters a goodbye to his other friends and follows after Donghyuck, confused.

"What? What happened? Where are we going? I was in the middle of a conversation." Jisung complains, but it falls on deaf ears.

"Well, I need a conversation with you, too." Donghyuck states and neither of them speak again until they burst through the doors to the library and find Jeno sat at their usual table.

Jeno perks up at the sight of them and nods in Jisung's direction.

"Did I do something wrong? What happened? Should I be worried?" Jisung flaps his hands as he sits down and kicks his feet against the legs of his chair.

"No, no. Just look at this." Donghyuck raises his hand to get Jisung to quiet down.

He lays all the notes and the new slip of paper out in a line across the table. Jisung rolls his eyes at the sight of them. Four, plus the new one.

Four confessions. And a phone number.

It should make Donghyuck giggle with butterflies in his stomach and with a fast-beating heart, but instead it makes him angry and frustrated.

"We need to decode them." Jeno says. Jisung sighs and obliges. "It's definitely something to do with the capital letters. And the numbers." Jeno places a dainty finger on a note as he reads it, before moving on to the next.

"Donghyuck, you're smart. And so are you, Jeno. Let's make a list of all of them and see if they spell something out." Jisung plucks a chewed pen out of his pencilcase and rips a page out of the back of his geography book.

They go through the letters, carefully scanning them to ensure that nothing slips past their gazes. Jisung pens down all of the letters and numbers with his best handwriting in a tidy list that they focus on when they have double and triple checked everything. Donghyuck adds the phone number to his contacts, promises himself to never use it, then stares long and hard at the jumble of letters and numbers.

"We can do the letters." Jeno points out. "There are two 'v's." It's a pretty uncommon letter. What words have a 'v' in them?" He thinks out loud.

"There are actually quite a lot." Donghyuck adds with a sigh.

"Like what?" Jisung pipes up to ask for an example.

"Like..." Donghyuck searches for an answer. "Vivaldi." Jeno and Jisung snort with laughter.

"You and your damn recorder." Jisung teases, punching Donghyuck's shoulder lightly. Donghyuck sticks his tongue into his cheek with disapproval.

"November?" Jeno suggests and reminds the other two of the problem at hand. "It's November now. The numbers could be a date. Or a time?"

The month fits, so Jisung crosses those letters off the list and copies them out underneath.

"Today's the fifth." Donghyuck uses his phone to check his statement. "So what about the numbers?"

They fall silent with concentration whilst they examine the list.

"Twenty-third? Twelfth? Tenth? Seventeenth?" Jeno fiddles with various combinations out loud and draws them out in the air with his finger, leaning his chin on his other hand.

"Wait!" Jisung slams the pen down and claps his hands together. "Surely. It'll be the tenth, right? That's the closest date from now and why would it be later than necessary? If he really does... like you, then why would he make it any later?"

The other two approve of Jisung's reasoning, so allow him to continue. Jisung wriggles with excitement.

"Which leaves us with seven, two threes and a two. It's probably a time. And it's impossible for it to be more than twenty-four hours. So it must be twenty-three hours, so eleven at night." He scribbles down the numbers next to where he noted the month and day. "Again, you can't have seventy-three minutes, so it has to be thirty-seven. 23:37. 11:37pm."

He throws the pen down with a flourish and a proud smile blooms across his cheeks, which Donghyuck then pinches and coos about how clever Jisung is.

"Wow. That's a weirdly specific time." Jeno mutters and rubs his brow with puzzlement.

"But it fits." Donghyuck replies. He stares at Jisung's scrawls, then at the notes and their much clearer handwriting, chewing on his bottom lip. "Now what about the rest of the letters?"

That is a harder task. There are tons, too many possible words to be made with the options in front of them. The library is nearly empty by the time they make a breakthrough. Jisung is triumphant once again.

November 10. 23:37. Park by the river. Be there.

"That's Saturday." Donghyuck breathes out.

"It gives you all week to prepare, then." Jeno says with a smile.

"Does Renjun really expect me to turn up in the middle of a field that late at night? My dad would never let me go." Donghyuck huffs.

"I don't think you should go, anyway." Jeno says.

"You worry too much, Jen." Donghyuck tuts, but understands his friend's concern.

"Renjun... he... he scares me, Duckie. A lot. I don't want him to hurt you. I know you like him-"

"I don't like him. I merely have a crush on him that I wish I didn't have." Donghyuck corrects the older, whilst Jisung just looks confused and lost.

A frown taints Jisung's features, his concern about the tension making itself obvious.

"Fine. But I don't want him to hurt you. He threatened us today, so that doesn't mean that he won't do that again. What if he actually carries through with his words?" Jeno is nearly in tears when he finishes his rambling and Donghyuck once again closes the space between them to comfort him with a hug.

"I won't go to the park, if it makes you feel better." He whispers in a low voice.

"Don't let me hold you back." Jeno splutters, now convinced and paranoid that he is preventing Donghyuck from living his life how he wants.

"You're not." Donghyuck rubs Jeno's back. "But I also have a bad feeling about Renjun."

"It could be a trap." Jisung offers, rather unhelpfully.

Donghyuck feels uneasy about the whole situation, but at the same time his curiosity is so close to getting the better of him. He wants to go to the park and see what Renjun has to say. The boy has been leaving him notes for the past week. He has poured his heart out onto the paper, and now Donghyuck is itching to have a conversation with him. Not another cruel argument, but a conversation. Heart to heart.

Because his heart is confused. Renjun just waltzed into his life and weaselled his way into his feelings and now Donghyuck doesn't know what to do. Renjun is mean. Snobby and harsh with his words. But maybe there's a soft side to him, Donghyuck hopes.

And the only way to find out would be to go to the park by the river on Saturday night.

"I'll come with you, though, if you want." Jisung says. Donghyuck turns to look at him incredulously and lets Jeno go from the embrace. Jisung shrugs. "My parents probably won't even notice that I'm missing."

Sadly, Donghyuck knows where Jisung got that idea from. His parents rarely pay attention to him. They just leave him scraps of food and get on with their day as though they don't even have a son. But Jisung is used to it. And he doesn't necessarily mind, anyway, because at least there are no arguments at home and he can meet up with his friends whenever he wants. He's learnt to not care.

"Alright." Donghyuck smiles. "Nono? What about you?"

"I... I don't know." His bottom lip is still trembling and he uses his hoodie sleeve as a tissue to wipe his eyes, knocking his glasses askew. "I don't want anything bad to happen. I don't want to worry Taeyong and Jaehy... my dads. I don't want to worry my dads."

He's in a reverse situation to Jisung. Jeno's parents care for him. A lot. If he's going out anywhere they always want to know all the details. Where are you going? What time will you be back? Who's going with you? It's not overbearing, though. Or overprotective. They ask the questions with worry on their brows, demonstrating their immense love for their new son. In return, Jeno doesn't find it fair to stay out so late.

"We can fill you in on the details." Donghyuck pats Jeno's shoulder, who sniffs and takes off his glasses to properly dab his eyes dry.

｡｡oOo｡｡

Wednesday soon rolls around and Donghyuck finds himself in the science classroom yet again, staring at the ceiling whilst Renjun just taps away on his phone. Irritation soaks through his blood and he is so close to lashing out and snatching the damn device and lobbing it against a wall. He reckons that watching the screen crack would be rather satisfying.

He also contemplates mentioning the notes to Renjun. But he bites his tongue and decides to save it for Saturday. Donghyuck still hasn't mentioned it to his father, but even if he says no he'll find a way to sneak out. With how much the man sleeps nowadays it shouldn't be too difficult.

Strangely, the teacher's desk is empty. Mr Kim's usual stack of books is not there, and neither is his mug of coffee or his phone. He wasn't in the lesson earlier that morning. The class dragged the poor supply teacher through hell and back.

"Where's Mr Kim today?" Donghyuck asks whilst he finally picks up his pen and pulls the sheet of exam questions in front of him.

He takes one look at the first question and counts the number of lines given for the answer. Four. Four? That's too many. He grumbles and pushes the page away again.

Renjun doesn't answer him. If his crush on Donghyuck is big enough for him to write letters to him, surely he'd pay attention to him when he is given the opportunity to sit there next to him for half an hour twice a week. Donghyuck finds himself studying his features, something he does too often nowadays. He knows the exact curve of his jawline and the exact way he lets his bangs fall over his forehead and the exact way his lips glisten with lip gloss.

"Who are you texting?" He tries again and leans over to peer at the phone screen. Renjun just leans away, barely sparing a glare in his direction, before continuing to type. "Must be someone important, then."

"Look." Renjun suddenly pockets his phone and stares hard into Donghyuck's eyes, which are lined with a particularly risky flick of eyeliner. "Stop being so nosy and get on with the work."

"I can't be bothered." He whines when Renjun picks up the pen and forces Donghyuck's fist open and then closed around it again.

The touch is like electric to Donghyuck. His fingers are smooth and warm and he can imagine holding onto them whilst they stroll through the city at night. How can he love and hate somebody so much at the same time? Or perhaps he doesn't hate Renjun, but just hates himself for falling for his charms so easily.

"Just do them." Renjun sighs and goes back to his phone.

So Donghyuck decides to humour him and actually reads the first question. It baffles him.

"What effects does potassium cyanide have on the body and why is it so toxic? What?" Donghyuck snaps his head up and looks at Renjun. "We haven't learnt this!"

"But it's useful information." Renjun says, uninterested.

"What? I have no idea!" Donghyuck slams the pen down onto the desk. "This is bullshit."

"It's an enzyme inhibitor." Renjun replies, as though it were the most obvious answer in the world.

"What's that?"

"Potassium cyanide is ingested, it gets turned into hydrogen cyanide which can then split into hydrogen and cyanide ions. The cyanide ions bind to an enzyme in the...?" Donghyuck shakes his and shrugs to indicate that he doesn't know the answer. "In the _mitochondria_. It inhibits aerobic respiration. You suffocate and die. Simple."

Donghyuck is astounded, confused, suspicious, and pissed off.

"That's not on the syllabus. When will I need to know that?" He bites back. Renjun raises an eyebrow.

"As Doy... Mr Kim says, the more knowledge you have, the better."

"It's still bullshit. Did you find these questions online? Or make them yourself?" Donghyuck sifts through all three pages. More about cyanide. Arsenic. He definitely sees something about identifying fingerprints and laser beams.

"Mr Kim printed them off." Renjun says.

"These tutoring sessions are supposed to help me study and learn the content I actually need to know for the exams. If I'm actually bothering to turn up, I don't want to waste my time mucking around with unrelated shit. What is this for? Are you training me for some sort of spy camp?"

Renjun doesn't reply, surprise surprise. He just smiles and stands up to find a textbook. He opens it on a page about something physics related that Donghyuck remembers hating with a passion.

"Just do these questions, then. And stop whinging."


	10. Chapter 10

Johnny chokes on his pasta. He glares at his son, who stops chewing and places his fork down on the plate with so much composure that it is obvious anger is bubbling away inside of him.

"Jeez, Dad. I only asked what you think of homosexuals." Donghyuck mutters. Johnny hears and has to get up to refill his glass with water and then takes a long sip before he sits back down.

Inside, Donghyuck _is_ angry. He is mad at the idea of his very own father being homophobic, of disowning him and throwing him out on the streets. Although he would do the same to himself, too. Not for being gay. But for having a crush on Renjun.

"Well?" Donghyuck reasons that now he has asked the question he might as well prise an answer out of his dad. "Do you know what 'homosexual' means? Like, gay?"

"I..." His father looks nervously around the room. He fiddles with the end of his tie, never looking his son in the eyes.

"Oh my God, you're a homophobe, aren't you?" Donghyuck hisses. Johnny doesn't speak, which means he doesn't exactly deny the accusation.

They both sit and stare at each other for a long, harsh minute. Donghyuck wants to cry.

"Are you... is this... are you coming out to me right now?" Johnny treads carefully. Donghyuck bites his lips and doesn't know what to say. He hadn't planned to come out, just to casually bring it up in conversation and hope that his father wouldn't pick up on anything. Just to test the waters.

The question was a spur of the moment thing. But he needs his dad to accept him before he can go and date Renjun.

"I guess." He mumbles.

Another silence squeezes the hope out of Donghyuck and he forces a mouthful of pasta down his throat, but it is impeded by a lump forming. Gulping down some water gives him something else to focus on for several seconds before he has to look at the tense frown on his father's face again.

"I don't mind." Johnny says eventually. Donghyuck swears he misheard him and takes a long look at the man hunched in the chair on the other side of the table.

"Really?"

"Really. I still... I still love you, Donghyuck. I know you might not think that by how little time we spend together, but I really do. You're growing up so fast and you give me something to live for." His father's words are unexpected, and they ignite a warmth inside of Donghyuck. A warmth he didn't know existed and it doesn't help the lump in his throat. He still feels like crying, but for a different reason this time.

"I love you too, Dad." Donghyuck chokes out and doesn't hesitate when Johnny motions for his son to come and sit on his lap.

He feels like a toddler again when he is embraced by his father's strong arms. It's a sensation he has sorely missed over the past few years. In a sense, it's as though he had lost his father and has just found him again, both of them having grown into new, better people. The newly-found love holds them together, Donghyuck with his cheek on his dad's shoulder and Johnny with his chin resting on the top of his son's head.

"I'm gay, Dad." Donghyuck says the words properly now, and Johnny chuckles.

"And that's alright. It doesn't change how I see you. I still love you all the same." His father's acceptance is like a breath of fresh air.

However, it is only half the problem out of the way. But Renjun can be dealt with later.

Donghyuck feels his father's chest move against his when the man takes an especially deep breath of air.

"There's something I need to tell you, Donghyuckie." Johnny says. Donghyuck frowns and lifts his head up to look his dad in the eyes.

"What?" He asks, quiet and unsure. From the troubled gaze in Johnny's wavering eyes, Donghyuck can tell that whatever he is going to say is important. "You can say it, Dad. I've said what I needed to say."

"I'm gay, too."

"Oh."

The silence this time is sad and Donghyuck's eyes seek out the family photo on their fridge. Two bright yellow smiley-face magnets hold it up. It's the last photo taken of the three of them before his mother passed away. They're all sat on the sofa in their pyjamas. He was still a baby, scarcely seven months old, and is sat lopsided between his two parents, who are leaning their heads together above Donghyuck's own tiny head.

"But Mum..." Donghyuck begins, and his father sobs before he can continue any further.

"I loved her. I still love her so much. But it wasn't all romantic love. I still love her with all my heart. It doesn't make the pain of losing her any easier to bear with." Johnny clings onto Donghyuck's jacket so tightly that his knuckles turn white and his son frantically tries to work out what to say. What to think. "In fact, it only makes it harder because... because I never got the chance to tell her the truth."

Donghyuck takes a shaky thumb and wipes the spilling tears away from his dad's cheeks. His touch is tender and Johnny thanks him through another sob.

"I'm sorry, Dad. I wish she was still here, too." Donghyuck says.

He deeply regrets every time he ever made his dad's life a pain, every time he was rude, every time he disrespected him.

"I'll be a better son from now on." He buries his face into the crook of his dad's neck and cries along with him, their microwaved pasta bake now completely forgotten about.

"You were never a bad son, honestly." Johnny says. His voice is tired and raw with emotion. Donghyuck is about to protest, but is shut up by his father pressing a finger to his lips. "There have been times where we've had miscommunications, but my love for you overrides all of that. You were the best gift your mother ever gave to me."

Johnny takes a swig of water before continuing, more refreshed and comfortable spilling his deepest emotions.

"You're growing up so well. You stand out, as in you have found yourself, Donghyuck." His son seems a little confused about what he means by that, so he keeps explaining. "You aren't afraid to wear the clothes you want to wear, or to do the makeup you want to do, and you just came out to me and I'm proud of you for that. You stay yourself, no matter what people say."

Donghyuck blushes when he glances down at his striped turtleneck, which is tight to snugly fit his frame and tucked into ripped jeans, and blushes even more when he feels the traces of the glittery eyeshadow on his face, which is probably becoming smudged from his tears.

"I've noticed that other students want to be friends with you. They stare and admire you. They see you as the popular, funny one and yet you have stuck by Jeno and Jisung's sides for years. You're a great friend to them, son. I've seen popularity get into far too many students' heads over the years."

"Thank you, Dad. That... that means a lot. You mean a lot to me." Donghyuck replies after digesting the compliments he just received. Hearing those words of reassurance from his father - usually a man of criticism - lifts his spirits enough to wipe his eyes, which does indeed cover his fingers in the silver and purple sparkles of his eyeshadow.

Half an hour passes before they are both content that they've had a deep talk and spilt all there is to spill, and then Johnny stumbles to reheat their dinner. It is piping hot and Donghyuck nearly burns his tongue.

"You had tutoring again today, right? I didn't get out of school until gone five o'clock." Johnny asks his son, who is busy panting and waving his hand in front of his mouth, desperately attempting to cool his food down. His father refills his water for him and he has to take a drink to just be able to speak.

"It's going well." He feels like utter rubbish for lying so soon after they had both been so honest with each other. His eyes still feel puffy and his nose is blocked.

It's not a complete lie, though. If you remove the part with him and Renjun bickering and the unnecessary questions about poisons and fingerprint identification, it actually went well. By the time the session ended, Donghyuck understood a few concepts much better than he did before. Plus, Mr Kim wasn't there.

"Good, good." Johnny nods with approval.

"Would I be allowed to go out on Saturday night?" He asks less than a beat later. His father looks at him. Donghyuck holds his breath.

"I guess so, seeing as you asked so politely and as your tutoring is working well." He breathes out when his father gives him permission. "I trust you."

"I'll be meeting Jisung and Jeno." That earns even more approval; his father has always been fond of his son's closest friends, and views them as good, sensible role models. He doubts Jeno will even be allowed to go but he throws the name in anyway.

They finish up their dinner, then Donghyuck excuses himself to quickly crash through some homework in his bedroom - for real this time - and then bounds back down the stairs to flop onto the sofa and watch a movie he's had his eyes on for several weeks now. When he turns the TV on, a news reporter pops up and tells the country about how the body of a teenage boy has been found dead in a river. Suspected murder, but the police have found no traces of the attacker. Donghyuck ignores it and finds the movie.

Except Renjun creeps into his mind. He's going to see him on Saturday night. Meeting in the park seems a bit dodgy, but he is curious and willing to at least go and check it out. And so late, too. Why would it call for the dark cover of night?

He has no idea what Renjun wants to meet him for. He pauses the movie to dash upstairs and find the notes, returning to the sofa and reading through them again and again. It seems as though Renjun really likes him. The words are sincere, with a touch of humour at the cute pick-up lines. Donghyuck can't understand how someone could be so uninterested but so smitten for him at the same time. Renjun must be really good at holding back his emotions.

The boy gives him faint butterflies in his stomach, and he then remembers how his hands felt against his earlier in the day. He longs to be able to hold them all day, everyday. But he is confused. The butterflies always end up flying around in a pit of anger forged from how he still hasn't moved on from the fact that Renjun is the one tutoring _him_. He joined the school two weeks ago, and yet has wormed his way to the top of every teacher's 'best students' list. He figures that if he truly wanted to be with Renjun, then he should be proud of his high achievements, instead of hating him out of childish jealousy.

His dad just told him that he was perfect, kind, beautiful, unique, so why can't he believe that now?

Does he actually have a crush on him? Or does he just want to be like him?

He shivers at the memory of the spark he felt when Renjun's fingers met his, and of the countless times he has gotten lost staring at him. That gives him his answer.

Renjun is mysterious. He clearly has secrets. And he seems like a complex person. Also, he can't forget how he threatened Jeno like that. How did he even find out that Jeno is adopted?

Donghyuck frowns at how he spent time and effort planting notes into his path, and yet won't fully confess to him until it is under the cover of the night sky where no one can see them. Well, except for Jisung and maybe Jeno, but he hasn't told him that those two are tagging along. He hasn't mentioned it to him at all, actually.

He flicks to the most recent note and checks that he copied the digits of his phone number into his phone correctly, before tapping to start a text conversation with Renjun.

What does he say? Donghyuck is good at texting, yet he is stuck.

He presses play on the movie again to give him some background noise.

_Hi_

_This is Donghyuck_

He lets his phone land on the cushion next to him and he adamantly looks away from it with nerves, paranoid that he was given the wrong number and will now look like a fool. His phone pings within a minute. He snatches it up.

_Hello_

Donghyuck wants to laugh and cry at the same time. What a dry message. But his phone vibrates again. There's more.

_Sorry about the threat I made earlier. I wouldn't spread that type of information about Jeno._

_I'm not thaaat mean._

_That was a dick move, though_

_If you do it again ur dead_

_I said I'm sorry_

_But okay_

_So you wrote those notes, then?_

_Why?_

_See you on Saturday_

_Can't you just confess to me at school or tutoring or over text or something?_

_Hello?_

_Renjun?_

One minute. Two minutes. Three minutes pass and he receives no response.

He quits the app and refreshes it.

Renjun's status is offline.

He drops his phone and buries his head in his hands.


	11. Chapter 11

Jeno yelps and clings onto Donghyuck's arm when a sudden thud sounds out. Jisung's hands curl into fists as though he is ready to pounce and fight anyone who dares to attack them, his brow furrowed and eyes nervous.

The street is cold, the sun long gone, and the only source of light is the occasional lamppost. The three of them are wrapped up in their winter coats but whilst they provide them with decent protection from the chill, it leaves their faces vulnerable to the wind and their teeth chatter.

The thud is followed by a car engine starting up, and they all relax when they realise it was just someone slamming a door. Jeno doesn't unwrap his fingers from around Donghyuck's arm, though, and the younger doesn't mind. Their bodies are warm together. Jisung soon joins the huddle and they shuffle down the pavement, rejoicing when they hear the flow of water from the river.

"How has it not frozen over yet?" Jisung observes when they cross the small bridge and he peers down at the water.

It isn't rough, just trickling gently and the ripples are calm enough to clearly reflect the stars and moon above them. The other two shrug and force out short responses, claiming to not know why because the temperature certainly feels below freezing.

"There was no specific meeting place, was there?" Jeno asks. They think back to the notes they decoded and eventually shake their heads.

"It just said the park by the river." Donghyuck confirms.

"What if the numbers were actually a coordinate?" Jeno frets and rubs his gloved hands together. His eyes sparkle with worry under the moonlight.

He is wearing the most layers out of all of them. His bulky scarf nearly muffles his mouth, his boots nearly reach his knees and his gloves are thick and soft.

"But he would have to give a date and time. If not, it would have been pointless to even give a place." Jisung points out, which inspires confidence in Jeno and Donghyuck.

"That might be the location." Jeno points towards a clearing amongst the trees.

They can smell the burning of a bonfire and see the orange haze it gives off, then voices come into earshot as they approach. Their steps are gradual and the frosted grass crunches beneath their feet. It could give away their presence, but the laughs and shouts and general banter from the group cover it up.

"Is he there?" Jisung squints. They've stopped behind a tree, having decided to wait and check that it is the right place and that they're not intruding on a stranger's party.

Donghyuck scans the three people sat on blankets around the fire. He quickly spots Renjun, who is laughing the brightest out of all of them. It's the first time Donghyuck has heard him laugh properly and he thinks it's the most beautiful thing about the boy.

"Yes." He breathes out, and the word morphs into a white cloud in the air in front of his face from the cold.

Renjun is not alone. Donghyuck doesn't want to have the conversation in front of other people. Jeno is trembling and holding onto him even tighter.

"I don't know them, Duckie. I want to go home." He whines, teeth chattering as he speaks and Donghyuck reassures him that he won't have to do any of the talking if he doesn't feel comfortable enough. Him and Jisung have it covered.

However, Donghyuck is unsteady on his feet when he leads Jeno and Jisung forward. He also doesn't know who the two other people are. He is generally more confident at socialising than Jeno is, but he hadn't considered that Renjun could bring some of his own friends along. It doesn't scare him, but it certainly brings him a degree of apprehension.

"Donghyuck! Is that you?"

The sound of Renjun calling out his name makes the three of them jump and suddenly all eyes are on Donghyuck.

"Um... yeah?" He says pathetically. He mentally facepalms. "Hi." The wave he offers next is even more awkward.

"Come on over, then!" Renjun shouts and the three of them scurry the rest of the way.

There's a blanket laid out on the grass waiting for their arrival, and they gratefully sit down. The heat from the campfire is like a thick, hazy wall at first, but it is soon accepted and Donghyuck unzips his coat. Jeno on the other hand readjusts his scarf so it can cover more of his face, to try to make himself seem smaller or even invisible. Jisung spends some time staring at each of the other three boys.

He recognises Jaemin immediately now that they're closer. Jaemin cheers at the sight of the youngest and Jisung greets him. It't is nice for someone to care about him so easily. His old coat isn't as thick as his friends' and the sleeves end before his hand because he's in need of a bigger one, so he is grateful for the warmth of the fire.

True to his predictions, his parents couldn't care less about him being out so late at night. Jeno's parents, however, took a lot more persuading. In the end, they were convinced that Jeno would sleep over at Donghyuck's house with Jisung. And they couldn't deny their beloved son the opportunity of spending a night hanging out with his two friends.

"Everyone, this is Chenle." Renjun gestures to the new face once they're all settled..

"Hey." Chenle greets. His smile is dazzling and he's holding a generous bag of crisps that he offers to the newcomers.

"Nice to meet you." Jisung beams, affected by the strength and charisma of Chenle's dimples.

The boy has purple hair, which adds an extra-eccentric touch to the glee in his laugh and the energy in his actions.

"Are you Chinese, too?" Donghyuck asks out of curiosity.

"He's my younger brother." Renjun explains, and Donghyuck lets out a lengthy 'oh' in response.

He helps himself to two handfuls of crisps, one of which he passes to Jeno. Jeno smiles and mumbles with gratitude. Donghyuck can't see his mouth, but gauges the smile from how his eyes scrunch up into the crescents he prefers over the one shining in the sky above them. The fire reflects in the lenses of his glasses, which is a pretty touch.

They strike up general conversation about school and their day and their hobbies, and Donghyuck itches to find out why Renjun even went to the effort of creating a secret code in the notes if that's all they're going to talk about. He is tired, and doesn't want to waste his time when he could be indoors in the warmth with Jeno and Jisung.

"AHHH!"

Everyone swivels their heads around to try to find the source of the scream. A boy comes charging out of the trees, shouting nonsense and waving a fallen branch over his head and not stopping until he reaches the campfire. His voice is loud and shrill and too much, so Jeno yelps along with him. He drops his crisps onto the blanket in the process.

"Yangyang! You scared them!" Renjun scolds the boy, who drops the branch and doubles over with laughter. Chenle laughs, too, and so does Renjun when his initial anger dispels.

Donghyuck's heart beats fast in his chest. The noise had startled him, and now he glares at Yangyang with disbelief. He notices how Jaemin seems unimpressed with the prank. But sniffles beside him pull his attention to Jeno, who is frozen, hands mid-air and mouth agape and eyes unfocussed.

"We're not in danger. Don't worry, Nono. It's alright." He rubs his hands over Jeno's to ease the stiffness out of them. "It was just him," he jabs his finger in Yangyang's direction, "being an idiot."

When he glances back at the new boy, Yangyang, he smirks at how Renjun has gone back to scolding him.

"I said to get some wood suitable for the fire!" He shouts, voice raised and lips pouty. Donghyuck thinks he's cute when he's mad like that. "This is _not_ suitable for the fire!" Renjun picks up the branch Yangyang was swinging around and chucks it aside. "It's too big and we don't have anything to cut it with. And it's wet. You need _dry_ wood for a fire."

Yangyang grumbles about how all the sticks on the ground are wet because it's so cold out while he sits down next to Jaemin.

"Calm down, calm down. Why don't you go and find some yourself, then?" Jaemin raises an eyebrow at Renjun, who only scowls and sinks down onto the blanket, finally shutting his mouth.

The only sounds to be heard are the crackling of the fire and the general chirping of wildlife. Jeno has calmed down enough to pick the crisps off the blanket and slowly nibble on them, but his eyes trail over the other four boys with anxiety and as though he were pre-empting the next strike. He nearly chokes on a crumb when his breathing falters again.

"Anyway." Chenle clears his throat. "This is Yangyang. He's my older brother and Renjun's twin."

"More like his _evil_ twin." Donghyuck furrows his eyebrows and lets Yangyang know just with his glare that he does not like him.

"What?" Yangyang asks, all defensive.

"You jumped out from the trees and scared the shit out of us!" Donghyuck retaliates with an accusatory finger prodding at the air.

"He's right. That _was_ uncalled for, Yang." Jaemin muses. He watches Jeno as he speaks, eyes regretful and guilty despite him playing no role in Jeno's panic.

Donghyuck and Jisung lean to wrap their arms around Jeno and they breathe clearly to help him calm down, muttering all the right phrases into his mind to unpick the taunting memories that have been stirred back to life and summoned by the screams and shouts.

"There's no need to stare everyone." Donghyuck hisses and scans the other boys. Jeno whimpers pitifully.

"How old are you, Jisung?" Chenle asks out of the blue. His head tilts and his tone is gentle, smoothly changing the subject.

Jisung widens his eyes and points at himself with surprise.

"Yes, you. You're Jisung, aren't you?" Chenle rolls his eyes. Sassiness certainly runs in the Huang family.

"I'm fourteen." Jisung says.

"Woah, that's so young." Jaemin remarks with a fond look in his eyes. "Like, _baby_ young."

"Bitch, you're sixteen. That's only a two year difference. Stop acting like a grandpa." Yangyang remarks.

"Remind me why I'm friends with you three again?" Jaemin mutters. The others scoff, having taken offence at that. "You can be so rude, honestly."

"So you're the same age as Chenle, then!" Renjun exclaims with a clap of his hands.

"Excuse me? I'm practically fifteen!" Chenle shouts and chucks a crisp at his older brother.

Donghyuck quite enjoys the sibling rivalry between the three boys, whilst Jeno shivers and nibbles on the crisps, cheeks ablaze from a combination of the campfire and the sensation of Jaemin's eyes on him.

"Close enough." Renjun huffs. "Go and find some better wood. Do something useful, for once."

Chenle shouts something in Chinese, which everyone else is sure involves colourful swearing, and he tramples over the grass towards the trees that surround the park.

"Okay. Now that he's gone, why did you let him come with us?" Renjun turns to Yangyang.

"Mum and Dad said we had to bring him along." Yangyang argues. "Remember? We had a whole conversation about it."

"But it's nearly midnight. He should be in bed! He's always far too hyper at this time of night." Renjun fights back.

Donghyuck smiles at that statement. It gives him evidence to safely bet that Renjun would be great around kids. What about their future kids? No. They haven't even cut to the point yet, although now Donghyuck isn't sure if there even _is_ a point to this whole meeting. Renjun is still bickering with Chenle and showing no interest in him whatsoever.

But there must be a reason why he was told to show up. He is curious and willing to know if Renjun wants to date him. He shuffles to free an arm from the hug with Jeno and Jisung and checks his phone. It's three minutes to midnight, which draws a gigantic yawn from his mouth. He's thirsty from the saltiness of the snacks. His phone screen lights up again as soon as he presses the button to turn it off, and it's a notification from Wattpad to say that someone voted on his book. But he flicks it away and finds his text conversation with Renjun.

The one Renjun suddenly disappeared from. His messages are still unread.

"Hey, you never replied to my texts." Donghyuck looks up and his voice makes Renjun drop the shouting with his younger brother to meet Donghyuck's eyes.

"Huh?"

"I said that you never replied to my texts."

"Ah, about that." Renjun adjusts the corner of the blanket and shoves some crisps into his mouth to prepare himself for the conversation to come. Donghyuck folds his arms across his chest and waits. "The answers to your questions are to be given now, _not_ over text before now. That's why my notes led you here. Be patient and I'll get to it."


	12. Chapter 12

Renjun is truly frustrating.

He rips open a bag of marshmallows and snatches a few of the sticks Chenle returns with and pokes them into the fluffy pink and white sweets to then ensure that they are distributed to everyone. But Donghyuck doesn't want a damn marshmallow, he just wants to hear Renjun explain the notes.

Donghyuck yanks his marshmallow off the stick and shoves it in his mouth, staring straight at Renjun, hoping that the daggers in his eyes will force him to actually get on with it.

"Don't spoil the fun." Yangyang groans and throws a fresh marshmallow in Donghyuck's direction. He ducks out of the way and lets it land on the blanket. "We're supposed to be toasting them together."

"And your idiot of a brother is supposed to be telling me why he wrote me those notes." Donghyuck quips back.

The campfire is becoming unbearably hot, and he's sure that beads of sweat are clustering over his forehead, yet his bones feel stiff and cold and he's aching to make his way home to sleep. Jisung is already standing up by the fire with Chenle. Donghyuck can vaguely hear them chatting amongst his foggy thoughts. Jeno holds back, clutching his stick and marshmallow and watching the fire as though it could rage out of control and engulf him at any second.

Donghyuck swallows his marshmallow and places his hand over his friend's. Jeno jolts a little at the touch, before relaxing when he sees that it's only Donghyuck.

"Would you like me to toast it for you?" Donghyuck offers. He furrows his brow at how Jeno is still entirely wrapped up in all of his winter clothing. "Aren't you too hot in all that gear?"

"'M fine." Jeno mutters.

"Hey, Jeno." Jaemin appears at their side, smiling radiantly and Donghyuck releases his hand from around the stick, which gives him the opportunity to dive in and slide it out of Jeno's shaky grip. "I'll help you. Come on. It's safe, I promise."

Jaemin holds his hand out and Jeno looks at Donghyuck as though asking for permission to go with him. Donghyuck takes a long examination of Jaemin. His eyes glisten from the brightness of the fire and a rosy blush dusts his cheeks. He is wrapped in nearly as many layers as Jeno, which Donghyuck approves of. If he plans on getting together with, or even flirting with his friend, he needs to be a boy with sense.

Eventually, he nods and Jeno allows Jaemin to pull him to his feet and guide him closer to the fire. Yangyang yelps when he notices that his marshmallow has been set alight, which makes Chenle turn away from Jisung and slap his brother's shoulder before going back over to the youngest, who seems innocently shocked despite the way the brothers have all been constantly at each others' necks since they arrived in the park.

Which leaves Renjun and Donghyuck.

"Hi." Renjun speaks, soft and quiet and almost cautious when he sits down next to the scowling Donghyuck.

"Don't play with me. Tell me." Donghyuck demands. He tries to get to the point as directly as possible. His stomach flutters at their proximity.

"I wrote the notes." Renjun starts, which earns a heavy sigh and a sarcastic eye roll. He pays it no mind and watches the glowing sparks dance around the campfire. "Jaemin distributed them for me. He's my childhood friend and was already at the school, so knew his way around better."

"Makes sense." Donghyuck vaguely nods. "Did you come up with the messages?"

"Yeah."

"Well... they were very... sweet. And heartfelt, I guess. Your pick-up lines could use some improvement, though." Donghyuck glances sideways at Renjun when his words turn teasing, and Renjun pokes his hip. "But why did you write them?"

"Because I like you, Donghyuck." Renjun watches the other's eyebrows straighten out then creep up his forehead. "I have since I saw you on my first day at the school."

"So basically you just think I'm hot." Donghyuck says. Renjun scoffs, offended. "But you liked me when you saw me. Therefore, you think I'm hot." Donghyuck pretends to flick long waves of hair over his shoulder with a smirk.

"Fine. Yes." Renjun pulls his knees up to his chest to bury his face. "Don't make me regret being confident."

"What do you mean?"

"Back at my old school I wasn't very popular. I was quiet and shy and too hesitant. Jeno reminds me of my old self." Renjun and Donghyuck gaze at the named boy. He is standing shoulder to shoulder with Jaemin and he flinches when Jaemin holds the toasted marshmallow up to his lips. Jaemin encourages him to trust him and try it, and they watch how Jeno visibly relaxes and takes a small bite, grinning in giddy appreciation.

Donghyuck turns back to Renjun. Renjun is barefaced, which reveals a modest pimple on his chin and bags beneath his eyes. This raw side of him makes Donghyuck's stomach twist at the words he is spilling. Renjun has a history, and it's likely not as pretty as Donghyuck originally assumed. The boy seems cocky most of the time, but right now he is letting him see a hidden side of him. It only makes that lovesick part of Donghyuck fall for him even harder.

"Anyway, it soon became a game." Renjun continuing his explanation pulls him out of his thoughts. "When Mr Kim assigned me to tutor you, I found it amusing how you would stare at me but never guessed that I was the one sending you the notes. Playing hard to get was fun."

Donghyuck's mouth drops open and a foolish embarrassment seeps over his cheeks. He imagines himself shoving Renjun right into the fire, then realises that is perhaps a bit too violent.

"You were playing hard to get all this time?" Donghyuck asks incredulously. "You..." Plenty of words to describe the boy sat next to him spring to his mind, but he trails off and doesn't let any of them reach the air.

Renjun hasn't always been the nicest person so far but him confessing could be a sign that they should quit the insults and be sincere about their feelings. They now have a chance to actually get together, instead of jumping around each other with spears in their hands and locks over their hearts.

"It was fun." Renjun reiterates. "Is it safe to assume that you like me too?"

Donghyuck nods. Chenle shrieks with laughter at something Jisung said. Jeno giggles when Jaemin keeps complimenting everything about him. Yangyang is nowhere to be seen, likely having disappeared between the trees again to sulk.

He weighs up the benefits and disadvantages of dating Renjun. His dad accepts him, so that won't be a hurdle. Renjun is also very, very handsome and tiny. Donghyuck isn't tall himself, but he keens at the sight of how dainty his hands are and how generally _tiny_ Renjun is. However, they don't really know each other. And there is still a faint itching in the back of his mind that reminds him of every time he has acted strange at tutoring. Perhaps that was just part of him playing hard to get; mysterious is hot. Or perhaps it was just Donghyuck over-analysing his every move.

"What are you thinking about?" Renjun appears in his line of sight, blurry at first but Donghyuck blinks and focusses his eyes on the boy's face. His pretty face. He shakes his head.

"You." He winks.

"Already flirting, I see?" Renjun exclaims in return and he clutches a hand over his heart.

"Would you seriously consider dating?" Donghyuck asks, serious all of a sudden.

"Of course. I wrote notes to you to confess my feelings. I find you really attractive." Renjun speaks earnestly and Donghyuck bites his lip. Not in a sensual way, just to aid his thinking.

"Attractive? What about my personality?"

"When I say I find you attractive, I mean _all_ of you. Which includes your personality. Also, those skinny jeans are seriously doing things to me. They always do." Renjun eyes Donghyuck up and down. Part of him wants to feel self-conscious about being undressed by the boy's gaze, but he braves it and wears his usual confident front, smirking back at Renjun and stretching his legs out across the blanket. "Oh my God, stop it."

"Make me stop." Donghyuck bites his lip with a dark, mischievous look in his eyes, the action not at all chaste anymore.

"So you weren't kidding when you said you were gay, huh?" Yangyang's voice tugs the pair of them out of their intense eye contact and they look up at him as he holds his hands on his hips and rolls his eyes.

"No need to be homophobic." Jaemin calls from the other side of the campfire. He's in the process of toasting yet another marshmallow for Jeno, who looks between the stick and the black-haired boy with wonder, oblivious to his surroundings. "The notes were your idea, so you clearly support the relationship."

"They were your idea?" Donghyuck's mouth stays hung open after the question. "Also, we're not in a relationship yet!"

"Yet." Renjun repeats and shifts to sit even closer to Donghyuck. He can detect his breath on his neck and nearly flinches away, until the tickles become relaxing and his eyes flutter.

"Yes. They were my idea." Yangyang huffs and lobs a stick and a few leaves onto the campfire. "I guess my brother just didn't want to give me any credit." He grumbles.

Chenle watches his older siblings throw each other rude hand gestures. Jisung is still talking to him but he's not listening, distracted by how close Renjun is getting to Donghyuck, and his eyes flicker with satisfaction and pride, then mischief.

"Yangyang! Renjun is trying to get some dick, so stop spoiling his show!" He yells out.

"Chenle!" Jisung stutters, flustered by the crude language leaving his new friend's mouth. It seems mismatched with the innocent laughs that follow and the way his cheeks are round when he throws his head back.

"You only want me for my dick?" Donghyuck gasps, but then giggles when he sees how Renjun is stuck between beating up his brothers and furiously explaining to him that he of course wants more than to get between his legs. Donghyuck takes pity on him and smacks his thigh lightly, insisting that he knows it's just the other two trying to embarrass him.

They are finally left alone again. Renjun is still sat precariously close to him.

Donghyuck glances back at Jeno to make sure that he's coping alright, smiles at the sight of him nodding along to a story Jaemin is telling, then turns back to Renjun.

And his face is mere centimetres away from his own.

He startles and his heart leaps in his chest. He gulps, eyes jumping from Renjun's eyes to his lips, then to his nose, then back to his lips. His _lips_.

The dark shadows of the night turn them a deep purple colour, which is complemented on one side where they flicker with the remnants of the golden campfire. They are plump but small and delicate, and Donghyuck's own suddenly feel dry. His tongue flicks out to give them some moisture. Renjun watches him with intent.

Donghyuck's heart is screaming at him to lean forward and close the gap.

But his mind pulls him back.

"Sorry." He mumbles, rubbing a hand over his cheek to bring him back to reality.

He blinks hard, shakes his head, runs a hand through his hair and takes some steady breaths. Time literally stopped for that moment where they were so _close_ to each other. He shivers. It's scary. Is that what being desperately in love feels like? What is Renjun doing to him? The question has been playing in his mind for days now, and he is yet to find the answer.

"No worries." Renjun chuckles. Donghyuck easily picks up on the fact that it's fake and forced.

"It's just... it's too soon. Too fast. I want to kiss you, but I still barely know you and just yesterday we were hurling insults at each other during tutoring, and it's confusing and I've never been in a relationship before and-"

Renjun puts a hand over his own to cut his rambling short.

"No worries." He repeats. "I totally understand and I'm sorry for rushing you. We can take it slow, yeah?"

"Thank you." Donghyuck utters. "Can we not rush into being boyfriends, either?"

"Noted." Renjun nods, then they both break into laughter at the memory of all the notes. "Why don't we deal with those those four lovebirds instead?"

He gestures to Jeno and Jaemin, and then to Chenle and Jisung. Donghyuck nearly chokes on his saliva when he sees how Chenle and Jisung are literally holding hands.

Holding hands. What? Since when was Jisung into romance?

Chenle feeds a marshmallow to Jisung in the same way Jaemin does for Jeno, and Donghyuck is about to tease them for being so couple-y until he remembers the chill of being mere centimetres from smashing his lips against Renjun's. Instead, he gets Chenle's phone number from Renjun and texts it to Jisung.

Whilst he's figuring out his own feelings, he deems it a suitable time to give his friends a helping hand.


	13. Chapter 13

Donghyuck trudges into his form room the following Monday with heavy eyelids and a heavy heart. Sunday was spent texting Renjun about everything except getting together and it somehow tired him out. Then, he crammed in two hours of coding before his father scolded him, threatening to cut the cable to his laptop so he can't charge it and chuck the whole lot out of the window. But Donghyuck knows he wouldn't do that; the computer cost a Christmas and birthday present combined. On top of all that, he is still struggling to recover from the all-nighter around the campfire.

It wasn't quite an all-nighter. But it wasn't far from it. They had wrapped up at gone two in the morning, then stumbled back to Donghyuck's house using the lights from their phones to guide them. Johnny didn't even wake up when they arrived. It was probably because the three of them were all too dazed and exhausted to talk and their entry was subtle.

Renjun explained that it's something he often does with his brothers and friends. Donghyuck wonders and envies how he still manages to glow everyday, despite the serious lack of sleep he must be suffering from.

Jeno, however, is springier than usual. He had an awesome Sunday and he nearly talks Donghyuck's ear off as soon as the boy slides into his chair.

"Woah, slow down, Jen. I didn't catch a word of that." Donghyuck slurs through a yawn. He lets his bag drop from his shoulders onto the floor and he then rests his head on the table.

"Sorry." Jeno says meekly. Donghyuck just tells him to restart, a little slower this time.

"I baked cookies with Mark!" Jeno exclaims and sneaks his phone out of his pocket to show his friend the photos, glancing around the classroom to check that Mr Qian is still engrossed in his emails.

Donghyuck finds it endearing. The biscuits are in the shape of flowers and are decorated with all sorts of coloured icing, from pink to yellow to blue. He is pleased that Jeno now gets to experience the joys of family bonding.

He hasn't spent much time with his father since they came out to each other, but at least their lives haven't returned to the previous tension levels. They easily talk over dinner and smile at each other in the school corridors, and he is content that his father has backed down from the rants. Just a short reminder to complete his homework suffices each evening.

"They look really yummy." Donghyuck exclaims as Jeno lets him flick through the photos. The last one shows a selfie, taken by Mark and with Jeno next to him holding the plate of cookies.

"I brought three in a box for lunchtime." He whispers to Donghyuck with a grin. "So you can give them a taste if you want."

"Hell yes!" Donghyuck whisper-shouts back. Jeno often brings in all sorts of treats, but homemade cookies top the list by far.

The room settles down when Mr Qian announces that it's time to do the register, which is when a certain empty chair is revealed.

"Isn't that Renjun's seat?" Donghyuck mutters. Jeno only pushes his glasses up his nose and shrugs.

"Is Renjun not here today?" Mr Qian glances up from his computer to scan the room. All the students flick their eyes to where the boy usually sits, then look at back at the teacher with blank faces. "Anyone?"

"He's not in his seat, sir." Someone pipes up from the back. Mr Qian tuts.

"I can see that. That's why I'm asking. Has anyone heard from him? Is he alright?" The teacher frowns with worry and then mumbles under his breath whilst he double checks that the boy isn't sat at another table this morning.

No one finds him, and no one offers any helpful information either. Mr Qian says that he'll ask reception to chase up his parents. Donghyuck scowls at the chair.

"I can't believe he confessed to me and then did a runner." He huffs when the loud chatter in the classroom has resumed; he doesn't want the entire school to know his business.

"He might just be late." Jeno suggests. He is also eyeing the chair with confusion, and Donghyuck's face with concern. "Don't worry."

"Renjun is never late." Donghyuck states, twisting around in his own chair to face his friend and keep the boy's place out of sight, and hopefully out of mind.

"There's always a first for everything." Donghyuck sighs very firmly when Jeno continues to offer his positive thoughts.

"I'm just mad that he buggered off after confessing. It didn't embarrass him, did it? No, it can't have done. He was more confident about it than me!" Donghyuck leans his elbows on the scratched and graffitied table and then buries his face in his hands.

"I did warn you that I'm wary of him. Multiple times, in fact." Jeno repeats his opinion of the boy for the millionth time. Yet, no matter how many times he tells him, it never fixes itself in Donghyuck's stubborn head.

Donghyuck decides to not speak until they are outside in the corridor, the flow of the mass of students pushing them along and then up the stairs to their maths classrooms. They're both in different classes, but they have a minute or two until the lesson officially begins, so they hang around in the corridor. They press a shoulder into the wall to avoid the kerfuffle of other students barging and shoving their way through. Mr Nakamoto comes along, coffee in hand, and shoos a group of younger kids into his classroom for the lesson. He catches Donghyuck's eye and smiles. Donghyuck returns the gesture.

"You complain about how Renjun sucks up to Mr Qian and then you suck up to Mr Nakamoto? Unbelievable." Jeno teases with a sly grin. Donghyuck rolls his eyes.

"What do you think about Jaemin?"

"Jaemin?" The question takes Jeno by surprise.

"Yes, Jaemin. You know? The cute boy who is friends with Renjun and fed you marshmallows and kissed your cheek goodbye and-"

"Alright! I get it." Jeno holds up a hand to make his friend stop, a pink tinge emerging on his cheeks.

"So, what do you think about him?"

"He's nice." Jeno says, quiet and shy.

"Nice? Is that it?" Donghyuck smirks and pokes Jeno's hip to pry more out of him.

"Yeah." Jeno mumbles. His eyes stay stuck on a piece of gum on the grey floor.

"I think you should ask him out." Donghyuck muses and picks at his nails. He repainted them silver and gold on Sunday morning. It's a bit messy and there are sparkles on his skin because of his sleepy daze, but he was desperate to try out the new colours. He then moves on to twisting his rings.

"What?" Jeno splutters. "No!"

"You'd totally date him though. And he looks at you with literal hearts in his eyes. He's in love with you too, so he'd totally say yes." Donghyuck sassily waves his hand in the air to emphasise his point. Jeno licks his lips slowly.

"I mean... he does somehow make me feel... safe, I guess?" Jeno squeezes out.

Mr Dong pokes his head around the door to call his students in, so the conversation is unfortunately cut short, but Donghyuck is sure to let Jeno know that they shall be discussing the matter at length later.

｡｡oOo｡｡

Renjun was absent on Monday, but appeared in form on Tuesday afternoon, then was present for tutoring on Wednesday. Donghyuck had sort of hoped that he would still be absent just so that he could miss tutoring this week. He's still catching up on sleep and he does not have the mental capacity for it.

"Where were you on Monday?" Donghyuck asks in place of a greeting as he sits down. Mr Kim makes his presence known by clearing his throat.

"It's private." Renjun replies. Donghyuck raises his eyebrows, waiting for a more detailed answer. "Look. I said it's private. Family stuff."

Donghyuck can sense the teacher staring, but he ignores it to focus on the boy in front of him.

"If we're going to start dating we need to trust each other and not keep secrets." Donghyuck says.

Now Mr Kim is definitely staring.

Donghyuck thinks through the idea of dating Renjun. Another person besides their friends listening to their conversation and hearing of the possible relationship makes him aware of how real it is. A relationship. And actual relationship, with dates and kisses and devotion.

He's never dated anyone before. But he's also never felt butterflies around anyone before. Renjun is his only admirer who he has returned the feelings for.

Saturday night showed Donghyuck a new side to Renjun. A side that felt more real and true and exposed, but so effortlessly beautiful. He wants Renjun to become his and only his. It's been mere weeks since they met, but his heart is thoroughly enamoured. He vows to make the most of these tutoring sessions. He is suddenly grateful for the time Renjun is giving up for his benefit, and mentally kicks himself for trying to hate the boy without giving him a chance. It had been unfair.

"It's still early days." Renjun sighs. "We still don't know each other too well, so can we please just drop it and get on with the work?"

Donghyuck obliges. He's passed the same worksheets as the previous week but he doesn't grumble this time. Renjun is happy to guide him through them. The content is nothing related to anything they've studied in class, but Donghyuck appreciates the break from the same tedious topics.

"These are actually really interesting." Donghyuck exclaims when he adds the full stop to the third question, detailing the stages of lifting and preserving a fingerprint.

"Exactly." Renjun nods along like an excited toddler, his legs swinging to let the toes of his Converses scrape across the floor. "It's cool to learn some science that might come in handy, isn't it?"

"I'm not sure when I'll need it, but it's fun to learn. This sort of spy crime shit appears a lot in films, and now I know how it all works!" Donghyuck puts the first worksheet aside and finds the next one. "Oh, I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this one already!"

"Really? That's a tough one." Renjun nods in approval when Donghyuck has already put pen to paper.

"How's the book going?" Mr Kim finally speaks. Donghyuck had forgotten he was even there, and his jumps in his seat and turns his head to look at him. He is wearing his usual shirt and tie and glasses, and is swivelling a pen around his fingers with agility.

"I've read the first seven pages. It's not bad." Donghyuck replies. His tongue then pokes out to aid his concentration in his writing.

"Not bad?" Mr Kim echoes.

"Yeah. Not bad. Kind of complicated, but it's interesting nonetheless." Donghyuck expands on his original statement.

The room is filled by a silence, until the teacher starts rustling paper around on his desk as he sifts through the piles to find something and Renjun watches Donghyuck write out of the corner of his eye.

"Done! Next question." Donghyuck mutters and absorbs what the worksheet is telling him to do next.

"Did you say that you've solved a question?" Mr Kim snaps his head up and drops his pen, standing up with so much force that his chair spins and rolls to hit the wall.

"Um, yeah?" Donghyuck is hesitant to answer. The teacher's peak in energy and Renjun's wide eyes confuse him, as though there were some kind of hidden joke he is missing out on.

"You've done it!" Mr Kim runs around the desk and over to the table where the two students are sat. He snatches up the paper and reads through his answers. "Perfect work! You've proven yourself worthy of joining our book club."

"Book club?" Donghyuck scoffs. "Why would I join a book club? That's hardly a reward."

"It's the book club I go to. You know, the one after school on a Thursday?" Renjun plants the memory back in the forefront of Donghyuck's mind, who nods but still doesn't see the appeal of such a pastime.

"I'll go if you're going." Donghyuck makes his choice after a careful few seconds of consideration.

"I always go. Don't I, Mr Kim?" Renjun looks up at the teacher with expectancy and the teacher smiles back at him, placing the page down on the desk with more composure than when he picked it up.

"Always." The teacher confirms with a gummy smile.

"Actually, wait. I can't go." Donghyuck suddenly snaps his fingers. The other two look between him and each other, exchanging a silent panic. "I have my recorder lessons on Thursdays."

"Then we can change the meetings to be on Fridays. Does that work better for you?" Mr Kim suggests. Donghyuck falters. Whilst he had stated the truth, he doesn't particularly want to go.

He remembers his promise to his dad to work hard and be a good son and try his best. So he accepts the invitation, still slightly puzzled, because they must really want him to attend. He figures it wouldn't hurt to give it a try.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone!!  
> I hope your week is going well so far~  
> It’s finally wednesday, so we’re halfway to the weekend :D  
> I posted the first 13 chapters all in one go so I’m sorry there aren’t any notes, but I’ll be interactive from now on!  
> I hope you enjoy the chapter!

"Do you think I'd be allowed to start guitar lessons?" Jeno strums a chord on the instrument he is balancing under his arm.

The guitar has been sitting in the corner of one of the music rooms at school since before they joined and has a string missing, but Jeno has become attached to it over the years. Playing the strings until his fingers became sore used to help him to just feel something, anything, on the darkest of days and even now that his life has majorly improved, he is fond of the old guitar.

"Of course they would." Donghyuck says in a tone which mocks Jeno for even doubting the suggestion. "They'd do anything for you." He pulls a final sheet out of his music bag, flattens down the corner and then adds it to the assortment on the music stand. It's a wire one, with bent ears and it looks as though it would topple over from the slightest gust of wind, but it does its job and Donghyuck deems it sufficient to catch an extra hour of practice before his lesson after school.

Jeno mindlessly strums again. He frowns when it seems out of tune, then pulls out his phone to check the fingerings are correct. The piano stool he is sat on creaks when he leans down to tug the device out of his bag. He grumbles when it turns out that he has been playing it wrong entire time. He stretches his index finger to the next fret along, wincing at the awkwardness of the new position, and tries again.

"That sounds better." Jisung nods in his direction from where he is sat on the floor with his back against the wall.

He has his eyes glued to his own phone and is gnawing on his bottom lip, eyebrows fully sunken into a frown so deep that they would fall to the floor if he stretched them any further.

"What's the matter, Ji?" Jeno tilts his head when he asks the youngest.

Jisung shakes his head and sighs. It is clear that there is something wrong.

"Come on." Donghyuck practices some of the fingerings to the piece without blowing down the instrument. "What's wrong? Maybe we can help you."

"Promise not to make fun of me?" Jisung says, voice higher than usual, but also quieter than usual. The other two swear on their lives and it is only then that Jisung takes a deep breath.

"Basically..." He begins. Jeno and Donghyuck seem to lean in closer. "Chenle texted me and I don't know how to reply but he can see that I've read the message so I don't want it to look like I'm ignoring him."

"Wow. Everyone is having love problems at the moment." Donghyuck exclaims.

"Hey! You said you wouldn't make fun of me!" Jisung points and kicks the back of his feet against the carpet.

"He's only teasing. It is true, though. All three of us are potentially in early days of a relationship." Jeno observes. When it's put like that, Donghyuck wants to laugh at all of their stupidity and shove them all, including himself, right into the faces of their crushes. Hopefully their lips will meet.

"Help me, then." Jisung waves his arms around to prompt his older friends to conjure up a magical solution to his dilemma.

"That's a major issue, though. A tough one." Donghyuck muses then sticks the mouthpiece of his recorder into his mouth to try a passage.

Jisung groans when the phrase hits the top register, shrill and staccato notes pounding his eardrums until it calms down into a more legato and playful melody.

"What did Chenle say in his message?" Jeno places the guitar on the top of the piano in the room, ignoring the sign on the wall that clearly states to not place anything on top of said piano, and sits down next to Jisung.

The youngest unlocks his phone and reads out the text.

"'Hey Jisung. Iwantyoutoknowthatiadoreyouandithinkiaminlovewithyouandihadsomuchfunwithyouonsaturdayiwanttopinchyourcheeksandspendmanymoredaysandnightswithyousowillyoupleasebemyboyfriend?"

Donghyuck's recorder screeches from the sudden air forced through when he snorts with laughter.

"He said what?" Donghyuck races to peer at Jisung's phone screen.

"He said..." Jisung squints at the text again to try to decipher the words.

"Why did you read it like that?" Donghyuck scrunches up his nose with curiosity.

"Because Chenle wrote it like that. Look." Jeno and Donghyuck laugh even harder at the sight of the message. "There are literally no spaces between the words."

"Ah, young love." Donghyuck says it as though he is reminiscing about the old days, which receives a kick on the shin from Jisung.

"Just help me, please!" Jisung shouts. A group of students stop at the door, frown with confusion then move on, deciding not to bother themselves with the youngest's exasperation.

"Ask him out." Donghyuck decides, sure of himself as he picks up his recorder again to continue with his practice.

"You're quite the matchmaker recently, aren't you?" Jeno teases with an eyeroll.

"Have you asked Jaemin out yet?"

"No." Jeno mumbles and his eyes drop to the floor.

"So shut it." Donghyuck says with a smile that reassures Jeno that he's not being serious.

"Have you asked Renjun out, yet?" Jisung fights back. But Donghyuck holds up his confident stance, smirking.

"We said we're taking it slow, remember?" Donghyuck speaks slowly to emphasise his words. "Which is closer to dating than either of you two."

Jeno and Jisung can't find an appropriate way to respond to that, so they accept the defeat and let him get back to playing his recorder. Partway through a particularly taxing phrase, Donghyuck gasps for breath, the intense semiquavers ceasing, and he finds a pencil to mark in where to breathe, then tries again. He makes it though this time, but can't quite find the right rhythm for the following line.

"Can you play it with your nostrils?" Jisung suddenly asks. Donghyuck glares at him with heavy disapprobation.

"That's gross. No." He winces at even the thought of contaminating his precious recorder by committing such a crime.

"Can you try?" Jisung continues.

"No." Donghyuck is firm in his answer, then adds to it before Jisung can get a single syllable out of his open mouth. "Just because you've seen it in some weird YouTube video doesn't mean I want to try it. I respect my instrument, like every musician should. Go and buy yourself a recorder, if you really want to try it out so bad."

"Stop talking like you're... like you're..." Jeno fumbles around to try to name a famous recorder player, but fails miserably. Donghyuck holds his hands on his hips with expectation. "Stop talking like you're Hilary Hahn."

"Well I'm not Hilary Hahn." Donghyuck retorts.

"Who?" Jisung has seemingly forgotten about replying to Chenle and is now fascinated by this new name being thrown around.

"A violinist. Like, the Goddess of violin." Jeno replies, almost wistfully.

"You should be going all soft for Jaemin, not a celebrity who is way out of your league." Donghyuck reprimands him. Jeno blushes.

"Sorry. It's just that Taeyong has been playing her recordings a lot recently. I mean, a lot." Jeno defends himself.

He brushes himself off when he stands up. Next, he picks the guitar back up and searches the chords to a pop song he has been trying to learn, now that he has gotten to the bottom of why that particular chord sounded so dodgy. Jisung buries his head in his hands and covers his ears. Donghyuck is still slaughtering the piece. He forces air down the recorder with extra vigour when his frustration peaks, which only causes him to split nearly all the notes and they turn into deathly screeches. It is dissonant with the more mellow chord pattern Jeno is strumming. Both pieces are clearly in entirely different keys.

"This is unbearable!" Jisung wails.

"Then go to the library or something." Jeno suggests. Jisung scrunches up his nose.

"But that's on the other side of the school and I'd have to walk through the rain." He stares down at the text from Chenle.

The other two can see the battle in his mind. He is too sweet to leave Chenle on read; that would be mean. But at the same time, he has no clue how to respond. His heart fell just as hard for Chenle as it seems Chenle's did for him, and he is giddy at the image of them dating, yet he is fourteen years old, which feels too young to devote himself to someone in that way. Jeno and Donghyuck are hardly helping with his dilemma.

It is Donghyuck's phone that vibrates next, though. He frowns and goes to read the message. The only people who would text him are Jeno and Jisung, or his father.

It is his father.

_Whereabouts are you? I need to speak to you_

Donghyuck frowns even harder and understands that this requires him to lay his recorder aside to give it his undivided attention.

"Who is it?" Jisung asks. Donghyuck just shakes his head and types out a response.

_We're in a music room_

_Why?_

_Can't it wait until after school?_

_We?_

_I'm with Jeno and Jisung_

_No this can't wait. It concerns another student._

_What?_

_I need to deal with it as the headmaster, not as your father._

_I'm on my way._

Donghyuck watches his phone screen. His father doesn't send anything else, so his status flicks to offline. That conversation made no sense to him at all. No sense whatsoever. He tries to come up with some possible explanations.

What would his dad need to deal with as the headmaster, instead of simply discussing it over dinner?

Another student?

The only other students he's had contact with are Renjun, Jaemin, Chenle and Yangyang.

Renjun. Could it be about Renjun?

His breath catches in his throat. Other students could have overheard a conversation and spread rumours that they're dating. That way it wouldn't take long for his father to hear of it. His father may support him despite his sexuality, but that doesn't immediately mean that he approves of their budding relationship.

"Who was it?" Jeno asks this time, just as Mr Suh swings open the door and relaxes at the sight of his son in the room.

"Put your phone away." He raises an eyebrow and waits for his son to stop protesting and reluctantly drop the device into his bag.

"It's your fault. You're the one who texted me." Donghyuck reasons, and his father chuckles.

"I'm only teasing. You can get away with it in front of me, but please don't take it out in lessons, alright?" Mr Suh says.

"Hello, sir?" Jeno and Jisung are frozen in place, confused and slightly scared by the sudden appearance of the headteacher himself.

The teacher resumes his posture, shoulders broad and back straight to make his figure assert more authority, and he puts on his stern headmaster gaze that he has mastered over the years.

"Follow me to my office, please." Mr Suh lifts an arm to usher them out of the room. None of them move.

Donghyuck feels a chill shoot through his spine at how weird the whole situation is. It still makes him slightly uncomfortable seeing his own dad play the teacher role around his friends, even after five years.

"Don't be scared. You're not in trouble." Mr Suh attempts a smile to convince them to follow his orders.

"Do you want to speak to them, too?" Donghyuck pipes up, twitching his head in the direction of the two other boys. Johnny nods. "I thought you just wanted to speak to me."

"Jeno and Jisung might be able to help. So hurry up."

Mr Suh gives up waiting for them and leaves the room. The three students glance at each other. Jeno and Jisung know the headmaster fairly well, as he is their best friend's father after all, but it doesn't make it any easier for them to decode the riddles of the unspecific details thrown at them.

They pull their bags onto their shoulders and traipse after him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will Jisung reply to Chenle? What does Johnny need to talk about? Interesting...


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m happy because I finally worked out how to change the theme or skin thing on this site!!! The panda one is really cute but it doesn’t work so well on mobile :( so I settled for a black and blue one, and now it’s made it easier to bings fics late at night bc it’s softer on my eyes... :0

Johnny shoves a stack of paperwork aside to give him space to rest his linked fingers on the desk. Jeno closes the door behind them, then nervously removes his glasses to wipe them on his t-shirt.

"What's the matter, Dad?" Donghyuck shuffles on his feet and looks at his father with earnest.

Mr Suh spends a few seconds booting up his computer and checking the inbox to his emails, then adds his signature to the bottom of some letters before responding.

The office is small but well-lit, as there is a large window overlooking the little garden where the younger students get the opportunity to learn about insects and tadpoles. Today, the surface of the pond is agitated by the pelting raindrops. A bookcase spans another wall, then there are two chairs in front of the headmaster's dark, wooden, and rather cluttered desk, along with a third in the corner beneath a photo of the members of staff.

"I was informed this morning that a student at this school has attempted to hack into the school system. The IT technicians believe they were trying to find the archives of data about the students." Mr Suh explains with a serious expression. "Data such as home addresses and parent contact details."

Donghyuck, Jeno and Jisung glance between each other. They are still awkwardly standing, not sure what to do with themselves.

"Do you know who?" Donghyuck speaks first as he is less intimidated by the man.

"Yangyang. He's in your year." The teacher clarifies the age, but all three students know exactly who he is talking about as soon as the name reaches their ears.

"How do you know it was him?" Jisung blurts out. As he is familiar with the boy, he feels the urge to try to defend him from fear that Yangyang getting into trouble could lead to him being punished, too.

The headteacher smiles as though he expected that question.

"He used his login to the school system and his account hasn't been hacked, so it was almost certainly him." He explains.

"Classic rookie error. If you're skilled enough to nearly make it to the data, you should at least be able to hack another account." Donghyuck says, sassy and showing disbelief. Inside, he is jittery.

Yangyang is Renjun's twin. Maybe even his future brother-in-law.

Okay, that's a bit of a stretch, but they are still related and it makes him uneasy to know that he could be getting himself involved with those types of activities. Admittedly, he has hacked stuff himself. But they have all been innocent games - creating second social media accounts and seeing if he can work his way into them. He has never done anything illegal. This is more serious. 

His father examines the discomfort of the three students stood in front of his desk. They flick glances at each other and avoid eye contact with him and stare out the window, trembling hands stuffed in their pockets. Donghyuck kicks the big heel of his studded boots into the carpet and fiddles with the zip on his leather jacket.

"Are you friends with Yangyang?" Johnny presses.

He receives another silence. He breaks the silence when he forces out a quick stream of air through his nose. Jeno jolts, and he utters a rushed apology before rephrasing the question.

"Do you know Yangyang?" He tries again.

"Yes, sir." Jeno admits in a shaky voice. Mr Suh knows of Jeno's history. He has witnessed the guardian contact details and his address change multiple times over the past five years he has attended the school, and he is sympathetic towards him.

"Thank you, Jeno." Mr Suh smiles to encourage the boy. "Do you have any more information about him?"

"What are you trying to squeeze out of us?" Donghyuck suddenly attacks. His father shakes his head in denial.

"I'm not trying to squeeze anything out of you three. I just want to try to find out more information. Yangyang doesn't even take computer science, and got significantly below average grades in the subject at his previous school before transferring here, so this is baffling. I want to know what's going on and if any rumours of the news have travelled through the students." The teacher explains slowly and calmly. Donghyuck rolls his eyes.

The mention of Yangyang's brother unsettled him. If Johnny knows that he is close to dating Renjun, he might now disapprove of the relationship. Yangyang really is Renjun's evil twin.

"Cooperate, please, Hyuck." His father mode is activated when he scolds his son, before he resumes his teacher stance of resting his hands on the desk.

"We don't share any classes with him. But we met him on Saturday." Jeno comes clean with the truth. Jisung drops his mouth open and Donghyuck stills his feet.

"On Saturday?" Mr Suh echoes with a raised eyebrow. "On Saturday night when you three went out? I thought it was just you three." His eyes become narrower and narrower as his suspicion builds up.

"No, we met with Yangyang and Jaemin and Renjun and Chenle, and-" Jeno breathily forces the truth out of him, and Jisung luckily stops him from telling an entire recount of their night by pinching his arm lightly. Jeno's eyes fills with confusion, then glisten with sadness and defeat when he rubs at his arm and turns his eyes to the floor.

"Alright." Mr Suh says, signalling that it's a lot of information for him to process.

Outside the window, and bird comes and lands on the surface of the murky pond. The rain persists.

"I'm sorry, Dad." Donghyuck mumbles. His features droop with regret.

"I can't believe you lied." Mr Suh rubs his hands over his face. He speaks as though the words are only directed at himself, and merely thoughts which happen to end up being vocalised.

"I'm sorry, Dad. I'm really sorry."

"You told me it was only going to be you and Jisung and Jeno." Johnny watches his son shift uncomfortably under his gaze. 

"I know." Donghyuck offers pathetically.

"Jeno's parents thought it was only you three. Jisung's parents, too." Johnny continues, his exasperation becoming increasingly evident.

Jisung bites his tongue from revealing how it really is with his parents. He bets that his ripped jeans that aren't meant to be ripped and faded t-shirt are enough to go by, though.

"I'm disappointed in you."

He's said the words. Donghyuck coughs on a lump on his throat and it brings tears to his eyes. Noticing his son's distress, Johnny hurriedly steps back into his headteacher role and addresses Jeno and Jisung.

"You two are dismissed. Thank you for your help." He waves them out of the room. He doesn't speak to his son until the door is firmly closed behind them.

"Come here." Johnny opens his arms and Donghyuck makes his way around to sit on his lap and bury himself into the hug. They've never acted so much like father and son at school before, but neither of them care from the way he is shaking and sobbing. "Shh. I'm sorry I said that. I don't really mean it."

"I-I'm sorry, Dad. Truly." Donghyuck wails and Johnny is alarmed. His son has never cried this much in front of him before.

"I'll only accept your apology if you accept mine." Johnny grabs a tissue from out of the drawer in his desk, which proves to be a bit difficult with Donghyuck pressed into his chest, but he manages it and dabs at his face to dry it as best he can.

"O-okay." Donghyuck mutters. Johnny doesn't persist any further.

"So... do you know Yangyang?" Johnny asks, softer and more casual this time. Donghyuck pulls away to look up at him. His eyes are glassy.

"A bit."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Donghyuck hiccups. His father hums for him to continue. "His twin brother is Renjun, the boy who tutors me after school." Saying this reminds him of the invitation to the book club in place of a session tomorrow. Now that he has discovered that Yangyang might have deeper intentions, he is hesitant to go. But he trusts Renjun with his whole heart.

"I see." Johnny nods along.

"And Renjun... I..." Donghyuck hesitates. Then he thinks: fuck it, and says it. "I really like Renjun."

"I'm glad to see that you're making more friends." Johnny says. Donghyuck has to scan his face to confirm that he is not teasing in any way.

"No. Like like." He clarifies. Johnny drops his smile. Donghyuck tenses in his arms. Johnny tightens his hold on him.

"And do you think he likes you back?" His father asks cautiously. Donghyuck clears his throat and shakes his head, like he is clearing away his bad thoughts to start afresh.

"I know he likes me back."

"How?"

"He wrote me love letters and then confessed to me. We agreed to take it slow and get to know each other first, but now I'm not so sure. I don't like Yangyang." Donghyuck bites his nails until his dad gently pulls his hand away from his mouth, his eyes warning him not to get back into that habit.

"That's quite impressive." Johnny nods in appreciation at Renjun's dedication towards his son.

"You're not worried?" Donghyuck pulls away from the embrace and stands up. He makes it his first mission to find his pocket mirror, then groans when he sees how smudged his makeup is. "I look awful!" He nearly bursts into tears again at the pitiful sight of his watery eyes staring back at him.

"You can go the toilets and wash it off." His dad suggests and types on his computer a bit. "And no, I'm not worried. Well, not too much. Renjun sounds like a decent boy and I think that getting to know each other first is an excellent idea. That way you can see if there's anything fishy going on with him, too."

"What are you going to do about Yangyang?" Donghyuck asks. For now, he uses to tissue to try to daintily dab around his eyes to temporarily solve the issue of his panda-like eyeshadow.

"I don't know, yet. But he could have done some serious damage if he managed to successfully hack all the way in." Johnny rubs his hands over his cheeks again. "What if he sold that data?"

"I doubt he'd do that." Donghyuck says, but he is uneasy and isn't convinced himself.

"But it's not impossible. He's only been at this school for, what, barely a month?" Johnny swivels on his chair and stands up to then pace over to the window. It is a gloomy day, to match the difficult nature of the situation he is faced with. "I don't know why he tried to hack the system. Doing it for fun is very different from doing it to then steal and sell personal data."

Donghyuck hums in agreement, struggling to follow his dad's rants.

"Of course, doing it for fun is absolutely unacceptable. Don't get any ideas. I know how clever you are with computers." His son points at himself with feigned shock when he turns around to face him. "Yes, you, Donghyuck." Johnny laughs, and it brightens Donghyuck's mood enough to straighten out his shoulders again.

"So what are you going to do?" Donghyuck asks for a second time.

"I'll take him out of class and have a word with him." Johnny decides. He immediately gets to work sending an email to the boy's teacher for the next lesson to inform them of the arrangements.

Donghyuck pales at the decision. Every student knows how serious something is when they are taken out of class. He himself has had a few run-ins with the deputy and various other teachers, and the way all of his classmates turn to stare at him as he leaves is an experience he never wants to go through ever again. He shivers.

But he knew that Yangyang was trouble as soon as he charged out from the trees. He smiles as the idea that this dreadful fate is only payback for scaring poor Jeno like that.

"You can leave now, if you want. Or you can stay here." Johnny squints at the tiny clock in the corner of his computer screen. "There are only ten minutes left of lunchtime."

"I'll go back and find Jeno and Jisung." Donghyuck says. He is halfway out the door when he turns around. "Thank you for supporting the idea of me and Renjun together."

"Of course, son." His father beams at him. "Have a good afternoon. I can pick you up after your recorder lesson."

"Okay, thanks. Bye, Dad."

Donghyuck walks back to the music room with a puzzled mind and an even more cautious heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooo Johnny got mad...  
> But what’s up with Yangyang??  
> Hmmm  
> What do you think?


	16. Chapter 16

It takes Donghyuck two tries to open the car door and stumble out onto the pavement. As per usual after shredding a recorder lesson, his fingers are in need of a rest. His eyelids and cheeks itch a bit from a combination of having to wash his makeup off with water and the remnants of lunchtime's tears.

"I'll be home for dinner." Donghyuck leans his head back into the car slightly to speak to his father. 

"Alright. I love you, son."

"I love you too, Dad." Their new agenda of saying those words and actually reciprocating them makes Donghyuck's heart swell. The reassurance that he is loved makes him infinitely happy.

The car rolls away and Donghyuck turns around to find Jaehyun at the door, waving him inside. 

"How are you?" Jaehyun asks him as he takes his boots off. He seems to falter a little when he catches sight of his puffy eyes, but Donghyuck pays it no mind because everyone has been making comments and giving him weird looks all afternoon.

Is he doing well? Donghyuck doesn't really know. He can't tell. Everything seems to either be a high or a low recently, and it is frustrating.

"I'm doing well." Donghyuck replies, then asks the same of Jeno's dad.

"Jeno's in the living room. Taeyong isn't home right now, but I'm here if either of you need anything. And of course there's Mark, too." The man walks off into another room, and Donghyuck treads along the familiar carpet to the living room.

He finds Jeno in there, half asleep on the sofa and not paying any attention to whatever cartoon is playing on the TV. Jeno has changed into his pyjamas, which consist of wonderfully soft baby blue material with doodles of puppies on.

"Jeno?" Donghyuck giggles when there is a delay of several seconds, then Jeno jolts up and fumbles to find his glasses amongst the cushions.

"Duckie? Hi." He says, voice raspy.

"And where were you?" Donghyuck teases and flops down onto the sofa next to him. Jeno blushes.

"I... I had a long afternoon and was stuck in my bad thoughts." Jeno admits. Donghyuck lets him bury his face into his chest and lays back so that Jeno is on top of him.

"Well done for telling me, Nono." Donghyuck whispers as he plays with Jeno's hair. "Would you like to talk about it?" Jeno shakes his head. Donghyuck frowns but does pressurise the older.

They bask in the quiet. Donghyuck still can't tell what the cartoon is and Jeno is just about able to reach for the remote to silence it.

"I like your pyjamas. Are they new?" Donghyuck compliments him and Jeno smiles widely.

"Taeyongie bought them for me." Jeno says and lets Donghyuck rub his arm to feel the plush fabric.

"That's nice. The puppies are really cute."

"That's why my dad bought them." Jeno sighs happily and Donghyuck feels his breath on his shoulder.

They're used to this kind of skinship; hugs and cuddle sessions worked their way into their friendship when they were still kids.

"Maybe I could call you puppy." Donghyuck says, casual, and he doesn't expect the reaction he gets.

Jeno coughs and his face turns beetroot red, and he pushes himself up from the sofa to process his friend's suggestion.

"Do you not like that idea? I think it's adorable." Donghyuck frowns and his mind is worried that he has offended Jeno, or flustered him to the point of no return.

"No! No, I do like it. It's just that..." Jeno starts, but quickly trails off.

"Just what?" Donghyuck is getting worried.

"Jaemin calls me that." Jeno mumbles. His voice is so timid that Donghyuck nearly misses it, but he catches it and is stumped. Jeno glances to check his reaction. "Jaemin calls me puppy."

"I..." Donghyuck doesn't know what to make of it.

One side of him is slightly annoyed that Jaemin has managed to work his way into Jeno's life so easily, and for him to already be calling him such sickeningly cute nicknames is irritating. Donghyuck wants to claim that nickname as his. He wants to call Jeno that. A pout forms across his lips.

But the other side of him wants to burst into laughter. Jaemin is so whipped for Jeno, who is just as whipped for Jaemin.

"That's sweet." Donghyuck says and tries to force a smile. The smile then becomes real and he hugs Jeno all over again. "That's so... that's so domestic. Not domestic, like, I don't know. Just adorable and couple-y and cute. You're practically a couple already."

"I haven't asked him out yet." Jeno admits and scratches at the back of his neck.

"You can't pine after each other forever. One of you has to make the move, silly." Donghyuck ruffles the older's hair.

"But I don't have the confidence." Jeno whines and he wriggles out of Donghyuck's vice of a hug.

"Yes, you do." Donghyuck insists. Jeno still shies away from looking him in the eye. "It's in here." He pats Jeno's chest to imply that he is talking about his heart.

Jeno gives a wobbly smile and Donghyuck accepts that as the end of the conversation, but he sincerely hopes that Jeno will be able to make a move soon. Or that Jaemin will do it for him. Seeing his best friend stressed yet hopeful about his love interest only reminds him of his own. He gets the urge to make some sort of joke about how the three of them have gone from being so painfully yet proudly single to falling for people left right and centre, but Jeno speaks again.

"So... Yangyang, huh?" He flops back to lay amongst the plethora of cushions.

Taeyong clearly has a thing for home deco. The walls are a delicate beige, with one of them having a silhouette of a tree painted upon it, leaves twirling away from the branches and into the bookshelf next to it. The television is accompanied by more shelves, which are filled by potted plants. And on the mocha brown sofa is a generous assortment of cushions. Some are embroidered with dainty patterns. Others are plain. But they are all irresistibly soft and Jeno clearly doesn't hesitate before sighing into the material.

"Yeah." Donghyuck breathes out, nearly to himself. He wriggles his fingers to ease out the last of the cramps. "Dad said he was gonna take him out of lesson to talk to him." This makes Jeno snicker.

"Are you okay, though? I should have asked." Jeno's mischievous laugh turns into a frown.

"You asked plenty when I returned to the music room. My dad wasn't mad. I think it just shocked him a bit." Donghyuck reassures the older with a tender shoulder massage that doesn't help Jeno stay away from the dreamy slumber he was in when his friend arrived.

"I knew Yangyang was mean right from the start." Jeno mutters into a cushion.

"I wouldn't say mean. Just..." Donghyuck loses his words and tries to chase the right adjective to describe Renjun's twin brother.

Deep down, he despises Yangyang. He agrees with Jeno's opinion; he did scare them after all. But perhaps he is trying to convince himself that he isn't so bad in preparation for when he is fully dating Renjun and will have to get along with him.

There's a knock at the door before he can pinpoint the word he is looking for. Jeno calls for them to enter and Mark ambles in without shutting the door behind him. It allows Seol to seize her opportunity to race in and take up her favourite spot on the windowsill. She sees a bird almost immediately and begins clawing the window and meowing. Jeno hugs her tight to his chest when he picks her up to calm her down.

Mark is wearing a bright red hoodie and sweatpants, and his hair is tousled and seems to be a lighter shade of brown than when Donghyuck last saw him.

"Hey." Mark says with a hint of stiffness, which is strange considering that Jeno is his brother and Donghyuck is Jeno's best friend who almost lives in their house by default.

"Are you just going to stand there?" Jeno asks. His hand tickles under Seol's chin, bringing out her content purrs. Mark clears his throat and shuffles over to the sofa. "You live here. You don't need to ask to come in or hesitate before sitting down. What's the matter?"

Mark splutters about how everything is alright and he is perfectly fine and happy and healthy and he just wanted to watch a movie. Jeno raises a sceptical eyebrow. Donghyuck doesn't know what to think.

"I like your jeans." Mark blurts out to Donghyuck. His face reddens and he faces the TV to try to find what he is looking for. His hands are clumsy with the remote and he curses when he ends up on some unrelated shopping channel. "They... they, er, compliment... like, they show off your... like, they compliment your waist? Yeah. They look nice on you."

Now Donghyuck really doesn't know what to think.

There is a silence in the room. The front door then opens and Taeyong calls out a cheerful hello, to which they all reply, and Seol suddenly thrashes her claws and swiftly leaves the room once more.

"Stop flirting with him, Mark." Jeno can't look either boys in the eye. He is blushing nearly as deeply as Mark and he is discomposed, but not surprised, by how his older brother could even be so awkward in the first place. The second-hand embarrassment is unreal.

The jeans are tight to Donghyuck's skin, but they suddenly feel a lot more constricting now that his mind is hyper-aware of them. He stares at Mark. Mark stares at the television screen, which is still stuck on another shopping channel, and Donghyuck knows for certain that Mark is not interested in the 4-in-1 blender the woman is trying to flog for an obscene amount of money.

"Thanks?" He forces out. His throat is tight and he really hopes that Mark is just being nice.

Mark is a nice person. Yes. He's only being polite. Donghyuck circles this thought around his mind, but it keeps getting stuck by the hurdle which screams about how this whole situation is weird and humiliating for everyone in the room.

Mark is a nice person. But Donghyuck doesn't feel butterflies around him. Not like he does around Renjun.

"Good afternoon! Has everyone had a good day? How was school?" Taeyong prances in, beaming and eager to greet his children. He stops on the carpet when he notices the tension. "What's the matter, hm?"

"Just Mark being weird again." Jeno lobs a cushion at his brother. Mark doesn't react. It's as though he knows he deserves it and just silently accepts his punishment.

"Don't bicker, please." Taeyong puts his hands on his hips. "Donghyuck, would you like a cup of tea?"

"I'd love one, thank you." Donghyuck responds. His voice sounds a bit disorientated and his entire body pulses with his heartbeat.

"Perfect. I'll make some for you two as well. Maybe it'll help with whatever's going on." He shoots his sons one final suspicious look before turning and leaving.

"Look, I'm sorry." Mark says. He gives up with the TV and drops the remote onto the sofa beside him. The screen is now full of a fantastic new vacuum cleaner made with fantastic new technology.

"No worries." Donghyuck pushes a smile onto his lips and Jeno tuts.

"You don't need to be kind. You can tell him he's stupid." Jeno pokes his shoulder but Donghyuck truthfully doesn't want to offend Mark like that.

The knowledge that Mark is highly likely to have a crush on him makes him a little uncomfortable and very flustered in all the wrong ways, but he doesn't want to hurt him. So, the least he can do is be a decent person towards him.

"I'm sorry." Mark drops his head to look at the pristine white carpet.

Jeno drags Donghyuck out of the room by the arm. The kitchen feels a lot airier and brighter. The living room had become stuffy from the stiff tension. They collect their mugs of tea from Taeyong and head upstairs to Jeno's room. He says that him and Mark rarely go in each others' bedrooms, so they should be safe in there.

"Video games?" Jeno throws a controller to Donghyuck, who misses the catch in his daze. The controller lands with a thud that makes him startle and mentally come back into the room. "Video games?" Jeno reiterates and points at the object.

They work their way through several Mario tracks before Donghyuck loosens up again. He feels bad for Mark. And for Jeno, too.

"Hey! Did you hack it or something? That's not fair!"Jeno wails when Donghyuck somehow doubles his speed, cuts right across his path and causes him to spin off the track. Donghyuck giggles at the way his friend pouts at the screen.

"Yes, it is fair." Donghyuck insists.

"No it's not."

"Yes it is. It's called tactics." Donghyuck stretches out the syllables of the last word as though he were teaching new vocabulary to Jeno.

"Whatever." The older grumbles and jams his fingers onto nearly all the buttons on his controller in an attempt to overtake his opponent again.

Donghyuck's phone buzzes in his jacket pocket. He ignores it, deciding to wait until the race is over. When he wins, he pulls it out with a smug smile.

"It's probably my dad telling me to get home soon." Donghyuck says as he realises that he hasn't been keeping track of time.

"Would you like to sleep over tonight? I know it's a Thursday and things are now awkward with Mark, but I'm having fun and I don't want you to leave." Jeno offers and leans his cheek on Donghyuck's shoulder. All anger about losing the race has clearly been forgotten about. "You know my parents will always accept."

"Let me check the message." Donghyuck wants a sleepover. He even keeps a pair of pyjamas and a toothbrush at Jeno's house because it's such a regular occurrence. "I did tell my dad I'd be home for dinner, though."

Jeno leans away to give Donghyuck privacy to read the message, but resumes the position when the younger squeals.

"What?"

"It's from Renjun!" Donghyuck taps onto the conversation with lightning speed, then freezes. He leans away to shield the phone from Jeno, who assumes it's some sort of romantic mush. "Huh?"

This is not what he had been expecting.

_Meet me at the same time, same place. Tonight. Without Jisung and Jeno. No excuses. Be there._


End file.
